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| The naval dockyard doesn't want visitors and did not want any photos taken, so I hastily put the camera away at this point. |
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| The old wooden rope making shed, 350m long. We made a rope (I'm twisting the hemp into the 3 singles which are then twisted round each other to make the 3 strand rope. We have a piece that smells very tarry so is well wrapped and stored with the smelly polishes. |
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| The old dry dock, wet at the moment because the gates need mending. |
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| The free ferry to Aspo (a good 30 minute ride) in front of the lighthouse. This was first built as a defence position, but was not needed, so became a lighthouse. The keepers children played on the roof which was not covered by a roof then. |
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| We went through a seried of low bridges. When we saw the driver kneel down behind the wheel, we all took it seriously and knelt as well. |
Well we haven't got far since Kalmar due to strong S winds which are of course forecast to veer to W just when our route back to Germany turns westward. But that is sailing for you!
We have made the most of being here by first enjoying drinks on the very fine 48ft Nordship yacht (met in Kalmar). It's comfortable living on board with big deck saloon and inside steering useful in rain. It has an evening snug below, under floor drinks fridges and probably a double bed and two bathrooms! But it's size is a severe limitation in harbour and it's mast height and draught limit the routes and anchorages possible. Then we spent this morning touring the historic naval dockyard by boat. This is still the major naval dockyard in Sweden (it is less prone to freezing than Stockholm). They make the Stealth ships here. (Wonder if they let Russian sailors in...... there are a few Russian yachts and a Russian tall ship here) it was an excellent tour, mainly in the rope making shed but we also saw the first Baltic dry dock. It's not so easy to dry a dock in a tideless sea! It took four days to bucket the water out by hand!
Later...... another evening drinks on another boat..... very different being perhaps smaller than Phun and owned for 40 years by a Brit and his German wife from Dusseldorf. They have spent the last 15 years in the Baltic so were a source of very useful information. E.g we have discovered that the Swedish weather forecast in Swedish is actually in equivalent detail to the norm, therefore actually useful if you can understand it unlike the useless overall view presented twice a day in English.
We have made the most of being here by first enjoying drinks on the very fine 48ft Nordship yacht (met in Kalmar). It's comfortable living on board with big deck saloon and inside steering useful in rain. It has an evening snug below, under floor drinks fridges and probably a double bed and two bathrooms! But it's size is a severe limitation in harbour and it's mast height and draught limit the routes and anchorages possible. Then we spent this morning touring the historic naval dockyard by boat. This is still the major naval dockyard in Sweden (it is less prone to freezing than Stockholm). They make the Stealth ships here. (Wonder if they let Russian sailors in...... there are a few Russian yachts and a Russian tall ship here) it was an excellent tour, mainly in the rope making shed but we also saw the first Baltic dry dock. It's not so easy to dry a dock in a tideless sea! It took four days to bucket the water out by hand!
Later...... another evening drinks on another boat..... very different being perhaps smaller than Phun and owned for 40 years by a Brit and his German wife from Dusseldorf. They have spent the last 15 years in the Baltic so were a source of very useful information. E.g we have discovered that the Swedish weather forecast in Swedish is actually in equivalent detail to the norm, therefore actually useful if you can understand it unlike the useless overall view presented twice a day in English.
