After spending a luxuriously relaxing afternoon on the beach in Lysekil, it was time for us to move on - we needed to find a place to set up camp for the evening. As the summer days in Sweden are long, there was no need to rush too quickly toward our destination and were able ramble through the water at a steady but relaxed pace. The islands, though small mounds of rock, were like mountains to us in the kayaks - we were like water bugs skimming the surface of the water and from our vantage point, everything looked grand. We paddled through a wonderful collection of islands and the water was very still. We came across the most magnificent island, as if it were a magnet and we were pieces of metal. There was a small beach, difficult for the one-man kayaks to navigate and impossible for the two-man's. Matt and Jimmy went ahead, through the maze of rocks, to scope it out. Meanwhile the rest of us paddled on to another section of the island and discovered a quite surprising place to land our boats. The rock was worn as if it were cut specifically to fit our boats and we were able to paddle into the crevice where a smooth, dry rock was immediately available to provide with solid footing as we exited the vessels. The remaining one-man kayak went to signal to the other two that we'd found a good landing point, who'd already moored their boats. They started to unload their hulls and came over to help the rest of us land our kayaks and unload our gear. We walked over bulbous, smooth rock to a soggy patch of grass that sat as a large, wide-mouthed bowl in a lush valley. The rocks rose up at a great height of varying levels and was so smooth it felt completely natural to walk upon them in bare feet. Although starving, it was difficult to resist the temptation to explore the island before settling in. Dave and I went for a little walk and stood in awe looking around us - the wide open sea was just on the other side of the small island; it was the deepest, richest shade of blue and the sky was clean and clear. Large sailboats and small yachts sailed by, in majesty and confidence. The wind was blowing crisply and had a chill to it; and while the wind wasn't felt as strongly in the valley and was therefore warmer, Dave and I knew we had to set up our tent on the rock, facing the sea. It was too beautiful to resist. Jimmy and Erica had a similar though and set up their tent a few levels below us on a flat, smooth rock just a few meters from the bowl of grass the rest of the group set their tents in. Our tent was jokingly called the penthouse, being placed so high up and far away from the others; this made me feel really proud. I also felt so lucky that Dave and I had such a wonderful place to celebrate our engagement. It was almost as if it were designed with the two of us in mind. Of course the wind brought us back to reality - it made it a challenge to erect the tent and of course on a bed of rock, pegs are useless. So we had to carry armloads of small rocks up to our site to help secure the tent, which would have been nearly impossible without the help of Matt, who provided mesh bags to place the rocks in, and Jimmy, who provided the elastic bands to secure to the rocks and rock-filled mesh bags.
Once again it was dinner time and we prepared our meal - a mixture of dried packets of rice and pasta with some fresh veg tossed in. Quite a gourmet meal, which I was quite fond of. Each group carried on getting organized, setting up their site and cooking their meals. After we'd all been fed, Jimmy pulled out his bag of blush wine, others pulled out cans of beer and we relaxed once again, this time under a sky that was still, shockingly, light. It seemed as if the sun would never set. As if to encourage it to set below the horizon, the gang went up past the penthouse to a ledge which provided a natural back-rest and settled in to watch the sunset. We had a great time. I did one of my favorite things to do when up on great heights and struck a few yoga poses on the highest rock I could find. Dave jokingly threatened to do some tombstoning off the side of the cliff and was disappointed when I came running over to take a picture...he thought for sure I'd at least try to stop him. Simon (aka Macca) entered into his own contest of seeing how far he could jump over a tarn of brown water and finally everyone gathered around to see who could scale a tiny little cliff above a pit of water, black with depth, without falling in. Matt did some of his own rock scaling and busted his toe and got some use out of his first aid kit (the large one, as he was able to exchange that for the small one at the beginning of the trip when he discovered there was room for it afterall). The sunset was pretty anticlimatic, but the sun itself gave a good show, blazing huge in a deep pink hue. The sky opened just enough to shower us with a few cold pellets of rain and was enough to send us back to the bowl. Sadly we had no campfire, but we had plenty of jokes and stories to keep each other entertained.
In the morning I was one of the first to awake and decided to take advantage of our million-dollar view; I made myself a cup of hot tea and took my fruit and walnut breakfast to a ledge just past our tent and relished the beautiful morning. Shortly, Dave joined me and we sat together, enjoying our breakfast and each other's company as we looked out on the sea in front of it. Life is dotted with little magical moments; little hiccups in time that full of serenity, peace and well-being in which we feel totally connected to the universe. This was one of them. I wanted to stay there forever.
As we finished our breakfast, we joined the rest of the gang down in the bowl. A few in the group asked if I'd be willing to lead them in a yoga session, which I was of course happy to do. We went over to a rock on the opposite side of the island and I led them through a series of gentle vinyasas that worked to stretch the muscles we'd worked the hardest in the last couple of days. We ended the session with meditation in Dead Man's pose, heated by the warm sun with a gentle breeze lightly touching our faces. It was a great way to start our third day of kayaking.
Once again it was dinner time and we prepared our meal - a mixture of dried packets of rice and pasta with some fresh veg tossed in. Quite a gourmet meal, which I was quite fond of. Each group carried on getting organized, setting up their site and cooking their meals. After we'd all been fed, Jimmy pulled out his bag of blush wine, others pulled out cans of beer and we relaxed once again, this time under a sky that was still, shockingly, light. It seemed as if the sun would never set. As if to encourage it to set below the horizon, the gang went up past the penthouse to a ledge which provided a natural back-rest and settled in to watch the sunset. We had a great time. I did one of my favorite things to do when up on great heights and struck a few yoga poses on the highest rock I could find. Dave jokingly threatened to do some tombstoning off the side of the cliff and was disappointed when I came running over to take a picture...he thought for sure I'd at least try to stop him. Simon (aka Macca) entered into his own contest of seeing how far he could jump over a tarn of brown water and finally everyone gathered around to see who could scale a tiny little cliff above a pit of water, black with depth, without falling in. Matt did some of his own rock scaling and busted his toe and got some use out of his first aid kit (the large one, as he was able to exchange that for the small one at the beginning of the trip when he discovered there was room for it afterall). The sunset was pretty anticlimatic, but the sun itself gave a good show, blazing huge in a deep pink hue. The sky opened just enough to shower us with a few cold pellets of rain and was enough to send us back to the bowl. Sadly we had no campfire, but we had plenty of jokes and stories to keep each other entertained.
In the morning I was one of the first to awake and decided to take advantage of our million-dollar view; I made myself a cup of hot tea and took my fruit and walnut breakfast to a ledge just past our tent and relished the beautiful morning. Shortly, Dave joined me and we sat together, enjoying our breakfast and each other's company as we looked out on the sea in front of it. Life is dotted with little magical moments; little hiccups in time that full of serenity, peace and well-being in which we feel totally connected to the universe. This was one of them. I wanted to stay there forever.
As we finished our breakfast, we joined the rest of the gang down in the bowl. A few in the group asked if I'd be willing to lead them in a yoga session, which I was of course happy to do. We went over to a rock on the opposite side of the island and I led them through a series of gentle vinyasas that worked to stretch the muscles we'd worked the hardest in the last couple of days. We ended the session with meditation in Dead Man's pose, heated by the warm sun with a gentle breeze lightly touching our faces. It was a great way to start our third day of kayaking.
Left: Macca jumping a tarn
Right: The Penthouse Suite
Right: The Penthouse Suite
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