Tim P traveled with five members of the Vedbæk club to explore the large lake in southern Sweden, Bolmsø.
Without GPS, navigation is difficult. Here is a view which covers four islands, at least. I have digitally enhanced the red and green navigation markers, without which we would not have emerged from the labyrinth guarding the transition from the big lake to the river Bolmån. We are looking north from the middle of Kafjorden.
Further north, at Piksborg, is the remains of a great castle. This was where in the middle ages the king’s tax collector lived. It was burned down by local people in the 15th century and survives as an earth mound. The name survives on the railway station, but the rails are long gone.
The next day we had a lovely paddle on the big lake, in calm and intermittently sunny weather. We visited an island with a rare relic of ancient woodland, mostly lime mixed with rowan.
Our lunchtime fire was on a typical boulder beach with a tiny sandy area. There is plenty of fallen birch, so lighting the fire was always easy and quick, even if we were only staying a short time.
We set up our camp on Storö in the nature reserve Tira öar. Then we paddled over to the west side of the lake, to Tiraholm, for a snack of smoked trout from the local fish farm and smokery.
Next morning we rolled up the 8 person tent. It is a very technically advanced teepee, with many ropes to arrange the top ventilation from inside, rather like a junk rig in its complexity. What it lacks is sound damping.
We had a long journey, mostly against the wind to get round the big island, Bolmsö, to our car park. It was important not to paddle astray into some blind fjord. There were some lively discussions.
The day got darker as we reached our destination, 30 km from breakfast.
Tina, Annalise, Jens, Bjørn, Alex, Tim
There are more, and higher resolution pictures here: