SE: Kråkerön – Stenungsund

Tuesday, August 21: Sunny and windstill to begin with, wind turning southerly and a bit stronger in the course of the day

Kayaking: 26.3 km

Stenungsund Camping Ground

Both Kirsten & I were up at the crack of dawn and no one else was around. I had found the milk and so could have a white coffee to go with the crispbread and cheese. The tent had become very wet but the night had been very clear with not only a beautiful sunset but also an appearance of the Milky Way – must have been a first for the Northern Hemisphere.

Philipp’s alarm went off at 7:30 (no need to get up any earlier as we were packed and ready to go well before the others). In any case people seemed a little more eager to get on the water today as the weather promised to be very good and, apart from a few clouds in the morning, lived up to it promise.

Soon we had passed under the bridge we had seen yesterday and were well into our way around a military island. At some point a seal appeared, but the going was very easy to day. I had put some bandage on the broken blisters on the right thumb and left inner foot and they seemed to be doing well. A bit of back pain that had been troubling me for a couple of days turned up again and could be relieved somewhat by bracing against the kneepads again. In the meantime I chatted with Lena about the stars (and she mentioned astrology twice which I did my best to politely ignore).

We had passed the first possibility for lunch as we were up to speed and we chose a beach a couple of kilometres further along, which was relatively deserted. Plenty of crispbread for lunch here, as well as cucumber, as the fresh food was on priority for being eaten.

We now only had a dozen or so kilometres to go and the wind was right, if only the waves wanted to go a little more east of north than we were heading. Just before town Philipp consulted his map for an awfully long time (I had spotted what was indeed the camping ground – from the caravans) and after a while we finally headed off there. Philipp called someone at the reception who said we could put up our tents on the beach for free if we paid for the showers. She wanted to turn up in an hour, but Philipp was a little hesitant about putting the tents up directly on the beach, or alternatively carting all the stuff 100 m to the camping ground proper and having to pay, so we waited for an hour chatting away and when no one came and it was getting late, we set up the tents on the foreshore.

Interactive Map

Philipp & I had been to the top of a high rock to survey the site, but before the question of the showers could be answered, dinner had to be prepared. Kirsten suggested root celery with carrots and rice, prepared together with what the others were cooking on a bit of a windy rock overlooking the bay guarded by a gigantic multi-island bridge.

After dinner Philipp called the caretaker again and found the location of the toilets, showers and a kitchen for washing up, the use of all of which had in the meantime become free. So with everything clean, sparkling & dry it was dark enough to try for some sleep if not for a disco loudly broadcasting its wares. I had managed to wash a shirt, a pair of underpants and sox and hang them on a line to see if they can somehow dry by the morning.

The back pain had receded somewhat in the course of the afternoon, so that promised well. Let’s see how far we can get tomorrow.