We had a peaceful night and we were off sailing again by 10:00, destination Mariehamn but this time the Western harbour, where the ferry terminal is situated. It was another breezy, cloud/sun sort of day and again we had to intersperse the use of the engine due to direction with some very good sailing, in F5 winds from the South West. We hit 8 knots occasionally and that was with a reef in the genoa!

The distance to Mariehamn was 27 miles and we were there by 16:15, to be told by a charming young man in a rib (rubber sided ie inflatable, hard bottomed boat) that there was no room whatsoever and he suggested anchoring in the bay opposite, where the other disappointed boats were . So much for the grand plan, which was to have another of those lovely 'herring' pizzas. The forecast for the next day was also not very good, so the thought of sitting on an anchor within sight of ‘civilization’ was galling. Still, people might move on in the morning and we could go in, or alternatively, the forecast could improve and we would head back to Sweden. Choices, choices.

Last night Julie had made a lasagne and tonight, with the remainder of the mince stew, I transformed it with the aid of chick peas, into a curry. Not one of my better efforts but it was OK. I must confess to getting a bored with the Patak curry pastes, which have been a mainstay of ours on the boat. The trouble is, we have jar upon jar of the stuff to use up, so I’ll just have to put up with it.

One final point, I forgot to mention yesterday that I’d been in touch with our developer who is buying our house, the mortgage has been approved and he has applied for the money, so now, hopefully, it is only a matter of days until the 4.5 year saga is finally over.