I should have explained in part 3 that we aborted our trip to Norrtalje this year because of several problems that took up time. The first was the closing of Danviks bridge at the entrance to Stockholm harbour that made the short cut through Lake Malaren unavailable. The alternative route through Myssingen is longer and less sheltered. The second was a rather prolonged stay in Stockholm seeing friend which was very enjoyable and extended because of somewhat unfavourable weather. The third was our unjustified worry about the engine. We have decided the increased noise level is most probably due to removing the waterlock at the beginning of the season as it had started to leak. The fourth was time lost because of my nose bleed and the final straw was the forecast of strong northerly winds that sent us into Stockholm.
In Stockholm we met more friends and visited a more than usually normal exhibition in the Lilyvachs Gallery next to Wasahamn. Essentially it was a run through of furnishing from William Morris onwards – interesting but casually presented with insufficient explanation. We also revisited the Hallwylska house, a wonderful example of late 19th C. taste and a great deal of money. We also discovered next door to Hallwylska a Lebanese restaurant that does a very good buffet Dagens Lunch. We spent a lot of effort trying to take out the harbourmaster Leif and his wife to lunch or dinner as he has been very good to us for several years. However we totally failed. However we’ll try again next year.
We’d been in touch with Martin and Maria Morris and arranged to meet them at Malma Kvarn after reporting on the quality of the restaurant.
We left Wasahamn at 0600 a little later than our previous trip and had Stockholm harbour almost to ourselves – no fat ferries with hideous wakes, just two work boats and a couple of international ferries. We found the route through Baggenstaket ; lovely in the early sunlight and also deserted. We did have a scare with a very nasty rattly engine noise which Kristin tracked down as a sheet of plywood leaning against the exhaust swan-neck! Once out into Bagensfjard we hoisted sail and had a very pleasant gently close hauled run down to Malma Kvarn but had trouble getting through the sailing school doing circuits right on the fairway. Martin and Maria duly arrived and we had a super time together and another very good meal at the restaurant with as a bonus a fried breakfast cooked by Martin the next morning. The only fly in the ointment was that we all went swimming in the lake behind the harbour and I managed to slip on the rocky slope, fall over, skin my shoulder and scratch my specs – clumsy!
No comments:
Post a Comment