I managed a good night’s sleep despite the graunching noises coming from the warps fastening the bows to the quay. Once I know a noise is not harming the boat I can relax and ignore it, quite a good trick on a boat! It was a breezy day and the sea was correspondingly lumpy. Our intention was to travel just a few miles down the coast to the harbour called Allinge, just a handful of miles from the northern tip of Bornholm. Our problem was that our harbour here in Gudhjem was pretty full, with all of the ferries still safely inside. At 10:00 the main Christiansø ferry was due to depart so we decided to wait for that. Rather charmingly, there is a custom here that the first ferry of the day is seen off by the local choir, they sing it out, isn’t that nice?

In order to extricate ourselves we had to reverse through narrow gaps left by boats moored on both sides of the harbour – not easy with a wind wanting to take the bows and push you to the side and with a keel shape that makes reversing a challenge even in benign conditions. Still, we managed it without mishap and by 10:15 we were sailing downwind under genoa alone, with 7 miles to go. It was quite rolly, extremely so at times but we soon covered the distance and prepared ourselves to enter the harbour at Allinge. It is always daunting to enter a new harbour, doubly so when the boat is rolling madly and the harbour looks full. Indeed that proved to be the case and we had to undertake a tricky 3 point turn, around another boat that was trying to occupy the last remaining slot and with only a few feet to spare on all sides, all in 16 knots of wind. Again we managed it without incident and I then took the decision to go around the northern tip of the island and return to the calm, sheltered harbour of Hammerhavn, where we were on Wednesday night.

This time there was ample room, in that the quayside wall immediately by the entrance, which last time was taken by a large commercial passenger sailing boat, who’s photograph under sail is in Thursday’s posting, was now free. Of course this situation didn’t last and at the time of typing this at 21:30, there are 4 boats here, 2 deep.

After lunch and a sleep (me) we went for a walk. The weather had deteriorated by now, it was quite cloudy but at least it was still warm. We intended walking across the island back to the exposed northern shore and have a look at the small village of Sandvig with its little harbour. I had decided not to try for here after the Allinge experience as this harbour was even smaller. The path we followed took us past a flooded quarry with its’ own zip wire, a smaller version than the huge one in Bethesda in North Wales. Also, unlike Bethesda’s ride, this one dumps you in the water as a way of slowing you down – no thanks! After this there is another body of water but this looks like a natural lake and once past that, we were in Sandvig. The decision to avoid here by boat was correct when we saw the narrow entrance with the sea rolling across the mouth, it would have been hazardous. Still, it looked like a sweet little place to spend the night in more benign conditions, despite the lack of a shop in the village. We did need bread but Elaine had discovered that one of the hotels baked all day and were willing to sell any excess production, so we had bread for tomorrow.

I hadn’t mentioned that just before we left for our walk, a Polish Nauticat 43 ketch came and asked permission to raft outside us, and we helped them tie up and left them to it. On the way back, Julie remembered that we still had some bits and pieces of change in zlotys so upon our return we got to chatting with the owner and gave him the money. He said that they also had a present for us and popped inside the boat and came back with a 4-pack of Ƶubra beer ie the Polish beer with a picture of a bison on. We tried not to accept (not too hard though!) and then accepted graciously. He was travelling with his wife and family together with other friends and family so it was a very crowded boat. They had been in the Swedish archipelago and were now on the way home to Gdansk. Nice people.

That evening we had salads accompanied by a selection of herrings in sauces and as by now the clouds had gone, we watched the sun set over a lovely blue sea, a scene that would be different in the morning, according to the forecast. We aimed to set off at 07:30 and had warned our Polish friends of our intentions. Let’s hope they realized that we were being serious!