In the beginning of july three brave paddlers headed for Gothenburg, lead by Christina Ingemarsdotter. They had six days to start with but some tough winds made them reconsider their planned route. This is Katharinas story about a trip that will make a life-long memory.
With rain pouring and wind howling outside we sat in the office, a.k.a. “The Blue Castle”, to talk about and prepare the upcoming trip towards Gothenburg. Would we really be able to start of with this much wind? Western wind, 14 m/s and gusts of 24 m/s, that´s a serious challenge, even for an experienced kayaker. Eventually we decided to paddle north first and later around the Skaftö Island to get as much shelter as possibly. When the sky cleared up we were ready to go!
With a lot of focus and amazing guidance from Christina we made it around Skaftö, camping one night at Blåbergsholmen. On the third day we hade to admit that the wind was too strong, so we stayed the whole day at the island Jonsborg, barely two kilometers south of our starting point! But we had a good time reading, exploring the island and gathering energy for the coming days.
Then came three long, delightful days in the kayak. It was not just us who longed to get out on the water, everybody else with a boat also seized the opportunity, which meant plenty of boats to watch out for. We stayed away from the sea fairways as much as we could, paddling sometimes on calm waters between islands and sometimes out on the big, wavy sea. Along the way Christina told us about life and history in the many charming West Coast villages we passed, with white houses and small red huts along the docks. The old town on Marstrand Island was subject to a combined ice-cream-and-cultural-history-stop. All along we kept up our good moods thanks to Christinas delicious cooking, beautiful camp sites and some days a morning swim.
The last hours the landscape changed from calm, scenic nature to the busy inlet to the Gothenburg harbor. Huge ferries accompanied us and ships around us being loaded with big containers while we got closer to our final destination; Röda Sten and the Älvsborg Bridge on the edge of Gothenburg city.
Clara and Lotta greeted us cheerfully when we reached land and many passersby, enjoying the warm summer evening, gave us and the kayaks curious looks. What a trip and what an adventure!
/Katharina Bömer-Schulte
