Stage 7: Ebeltoft and back to the Store Baelt bridge

Friday 22 June
It was pouring with rain when Liz arrived and it continued pouring until well after lunch. When it finally cleared, it was a lovely warm, calm afternoon, so we went out for a few hours sailing. We sailed up the Aarhus Bugt bay and then down again - no particular destination in mind. We saw a few porpoises which took quite an interest in the boat, swimming close to us, coming up to breathe next to us so that we could see them underwater, for a few minutes before they disappeared. It was the best sighting we've ever had of porpoises.

The ugly power station in Aarhus Bugt, spoiling a beautiful bay

Saturday 23 June
We left early to sail to Ebeltoft, about 20 miles along the deeply indented coast. To start with, we were sailing quite close to the S wind, to clear one of the headlands, but as we rounded the shallows off it, we were able to bear away onto a nice reach towards the lighthouse and headland at Sletterhage. This is a bit where the deep water, over 50 m deep is only a few metres from the headland -the sea bed must be almost a cliff. Anyway, as we approached it, we saw a ferry (not a high speed one, this one was only doing 20 kts) was coming towards us on a collision course. I knew they would change course, because they were heading straight for the headland as well as straight for us, but it is still pretty unnerving! Eventually, they changed course and passed well clear of us, and we rounded the headland and passed into quite choppy water as we headed into the deep bay for Ebeltoft. We reefed the main sail and dropped the jib to run in, found the very inconspicuous buoys which mark the channel, and came into the harbour, in time for lunch. Ebeltoft is quite a nice basic Danish town, rather spoiled by tourism. It is a bit too obvious that its main income stream is from the influx of visitors in the school holidays, which are now about to start.

Sunday 24 June
It was forecast to rain, and rain it did, relentlessly and heavily, almost all day - starting at about 10 and stopping after 9 pm. We gave up on plans for a bike ride and spent the morning looking around Ebeltoft's main attraction, the frigate Jylland. It was built in 1857-62, mainly sail, but with a steam engine too. She has been beautifully restored, probably because she fired the winning shots in one of Denmark's rare victories against the Germans - the battle of Helgoland in one of the Schleswig-Holstein wars, which Denmark lost disastrously. The ship itself is fascinating, and the exhibition with it is excellent, with some translations of first hand accounts of the battle, various reconstructions, bits of history for those of us who do not remember much European history, and some fun simulations of firing a cannon.

The construction of the hull, seen from the hold.

One of the excellent exhibits in the museum

After doing a bit of shopping and getting very wet, we invited a British couple (Gavin and Terry) on another boat for tea, only to find that Terry had taught at the school that Liz and I spent most of our school days at. She was, of course, there well after our time, but she knew some of our teachers and was there when it closed down in the 1990's.

Monday 25 June
It only rained in torrential showers, rather than the steady rain of Sunday. However, with the showers were strong gusty squalls, so we took the wimps way out and went for a bike ride instead of a day-sail. We wanted to look at the Helgaenes peninsula, which has two historical interesting events associated with it.

In Viking times, the ships used to be dragged across the narrow neck of the isthmus, and in one of the Danish-Prussian wars, it was defended by the Danes against a hugely superior Prussian army to allow much of the Danish army to be evacuated - a Dunkirk sort of glorious defeat! The ride was along the coast but with a decent hill (probably the longest we've cycled up since we left the UK). The isthmus was grazing land with various lumps and bumps some of which were glacial, and some burial mounds and some ramparts from the defence. We got totally soaked in a heavy shower while working out what was what! Liz then cycled on to the southernmost point - Sletterhage, while we cycled back. We were invited for a drink with Gavin and terry, who lent us some very useful pilot guides to the southern Swedish area. Finally, I won the Scrabble game, which gave us one win each while Liz was with us - honour satisfied!

Tuesday 26 June

We saw Liz off on the airport bus, and then did the domestic jobs, because although the weather was brighter and even became sunny later on, the wind was still whistling through the marina. A bike ride through the nature reserve south of Ebeltoft and tea and cake with Terry and Gavin were about the only notable events of the day - a pleasant lazy day.

Wednesday 27 June
The wind was still howling in the morning - 25 kt gusts, but the forecast was for it to moderate by lunchtime, so we set off after an early lunch. Very soon the wind reduced to a nice F4 on the beam, and we had a lovely sail down to Samso. It was a great pity Liz could not stay a bit longer - she'd have loved this! We wanted to revisit one of our favourite anchoring sites at Langoer.

It is an almost enclosed shallow bay with narrow spits of sand on every side except the approach from the north, but then you turn around yet another spit of sand to find a bay sheltered from every direction. It is, not surprisingly, a nature reserve, but people seem to be able to anchor and pass through to a tiny marina. It was also used by the Vikings as a harbour, and they dug a canal right across the island of Samso at its narrowest point, so that they could escape either to the east or west. I think the Danish navy tried to reuse it (presumably much enlarged) in the Anglo-Danish war around 1800 for the same purpose. When we looked for it on a previous visit, there was a muddy ditch and an inconspicuous notice board explaining the history in Danish. Anyway, it is a magical spot to anchor, and we are here with half a dozen other boats (Danish, German and Swedish) who also appreciate the peace and ambience. We'd like to have a few days to wander with the canoe and explore in detail, but the weather does not look good for anchoring tomorrow night, so we'll have to be off in the morning.

Thursday 28 June
When at anchor, Alshira sings. She doesn't do it when moored in marinas, so I think it must be that she needs clear air to blow onto the shrouds for them to hum. Sometimes it is a single note, but often the harmonic changes, or another shroud joins in, and the singing becomes more complex. She sang all night, not loudly, and quite pleasantly! We set off in the morning with a satisfying sail off the anchor and out of the bay, but the wind was very light and in order to manage the very narrow channel between the sandbanks and islands, we had to motor. We emerged into the Store Baelt and tried to sail. At times we actually overtook the jellyfish, but after a couple of hours we had progressed about 2 miles, and we were actually going sideways - some current, we supposed - so we gave up and motored to Ballen, which is a small harbour further down the island of Samso. The afternoon was warm and sunny, so we read in the cockpit and relaxed. More - probably too much - wind is forecast for tomorrow, though, so we may be on bikes again.

Friday 29 June
We woke to heavy rain, which then became even heavier during the morning, with lightning and loud claps of thunder. We drank lots of coffee and read until it cleared. We could see the rainfall radar on the Danish met office site, and were able to predict quite accurately that it would clear just before lunchtime. So after lunch we rode our bikes across the island and wandered a bit to see what the middle of Samso is like. It is very agricultural with lots of fruit and veg being grown, with lots of stalls by the roadside selling strawberries and potatoes and other stuff. It is not as attractive as some of the other islands, like Aeroe or Langeland, but in good weather must be a lovely place for a children's holiday, with super sandy beaches, almost empty roads for bikes and so on. Very soon after we got back, we had another, brief but torrential, thunderstorm, and they continued on and off all evening. A lot of rain certainly fell today, as we could see in the fields when we were out on our bikes. However, tomorrow looks better, so we hope to move further south.

The sights of Samso - a traditional windmill and a rather nice jam factory

Saturday 30 June
It was a lovely morning - blue sky, blue sea, a little wind and everything was drying nicely after yesterday. An American, in a German boat with a German wife, was rafted to us, and was clearly very nervous about leaving the raft and clearing the boat in front. Everyone heard his plans and a lot of us tried to reassure him. In the end, a hefty push or two did the trick and he left, looking very relieved. He had been telling us what a nervous sailor his wife was - after that performance, I can see that she has some cause! We left straight after him and sailed south down the Store Baelt. It was an easy sail, with a rain squall at one point, but little else of note, except a couple of groups of porpoises. Eventually, as we tried to clear one of the headlands, the wind died almost completely. We tried the drifter, but we were hardly moving, and when we started going sideways towards the shallows, we gave up and motored the last 2 miles to the island of Musholm, where we had anchored a few weeks ago. It was warm, completely calm and sunny, with a few other boats already there. We read for a bit, but I got so hot that a swim seemed a good idea. The sea is still quite cold, but it was very pleasant - it's the first swim of the year for me.

A spectacular jellyfish, which I did not encounter in the water, I'm glad to say!