Saturday, 15 June 2013

Wed 12th – Sat 15th June – Changeable Weather!


Sønderborg to Svendborg
The wind really hasn’t let up, despite being quite sunny sometimes, so we’ve been in Sønderborg for a few days and unable to move on …

But there’s plenty to catch up on – laundry (3 loads!), shopping (3 loads – carried back in rucksacks and on the fold-up bike!) and cleaning the boat inside and out!
I took the opportunity to visit Sønderborg Slot, a medieval fortress with walls 5 feet thick …

It has a lovely and beautifully restored 16th century chapel …

It also gave us a chance to meet up with Rob Whittle, who lives in Sønderborg, and whose parents, Mike and Wendy, live in Bosham – it’s certainly a small world!  We had a pleasant chat and refreshments on board …

Eventually the wind died down and we had an evening stroll along the beach …

The sunset was quite spectacular and promised better weather for tomorrow – red sky at night ...!

We left Sønderborg the next day and had a pleasant sail down the Als Sund …

However, it became more and more blustery and rough, and we quite suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a thunderstorm with hail stones.  It was quite exciting and only a little scary!  People often say that it looks as though we’re having wonderful weather, but the fact is that grey, wet weather doesn’t make good photos!  Nor was it easy to take pictures while steering through the rough seas and dodging the lightning!  But this is an attempt at showing how wet we were …

Once the storm had gone through, better weather started to catch up with us …

… and the sun lit up the green countryside really brightly …

The wind was still force 6 or 7, and we had a rip-roaring sail with a reefed jib and no main, but still making 8 knots …

By the time we got to Svendborg, it had calmed down, the sun had come out, and everyone must have wondered why we were wearing full oilskins!

Svendborg is a pretty little town …

… with some attractive old buildings …

… but was completely deserted by 9pm on a Saturday night, as many small Danish towns seem to be!

1 comment:

  1. Great photos again Di, even the rough weather you've captured well. Wouldn't be good for me I think, my friend Huey would be much in evidence I reckon!
    I'm looking forward to your pictures from Stockholm, just to see how it's changed over the past 10 years or so since I was last there. Keep up the good work.

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