During this last period we travel from Stockholm back home. Because it is a long trip and one map can only give an overview, I have divided the maps  into three more detailed parts.
The weather during this period has been clearly less attractive compared to the first 2,5 month: more rain and for sure a lot more wind. Despite that we have had still a few very nice days in the Archipelago (first part of this period).

At 31/7 we left from Vaxholm to Salsjöbaden. Salsjöbaden is in fact a very luxuary suburb of Stockholm with beautiful houses and sailing waters. The Grand Hotel and the Observatory are overlooking the bay majestically. The old bath houses from the nineteenth century are very special and beautifully restored. Many people enjoy the beautiful weather. With this nice weather we decide to anchor at a rock in the bay with beautiful views. But, although forecast was very stable weather, the wind suddenly increases a lot and unfortunately changes also direction with almost 180 degrees. The anchor of Arie and Nelleke doesn't hold. The boat turns 90 degrees and would hit the rocks, if Arie and I can't keep it off, standing at the shore. We tighten their boat firmly with springs to ours and I start the motor backwards in order to relieve the tension of my anchor line, with two boats at it. We decide that Arie will stay at the island to keep the boats off and together with the help of Nelleke, with a lot of motor power, we succeed to sail the two boats fixed to each other from the rocks. My anchor luckely did hold, which helped a lot. The next action is to get Arie from the rock.......I fix a 200 feet line to the dinghy and Tineke goes (fixed to our boat) to Arie.....I pull them back and 15 minutes later we can sail to a real harbour....the wind is normal again..
In Saltsjöbaden we enjoy a beer at the outside café in the sun. We are happy that we don't have any damage.

During the sailing across the Archipelago skies become more and more beautiful and fascinating, because of all the passing meteorological fronts. Via Dalarö and Karslund we sail to Landsort (Skravleviken on the island Öja). Öja is a magnificent, rough, small island with a few small harbours (of which only one suited for the size of our boats). The island has a rich history during war (strategically positioned in the major waterways) and is strewed with art in the open air. Arie, Nelleke en Tineke do a biking tour on the island. One of the harbours has an entrance completelely strewed with rocks, which makes it a real puzzle to enter without damage when there are waves or strong winds. 
Again we have during the night problems with the anchor of Arie and a Danish boat next to him. We are in the harbour with the bow to the shore and the back on an anchor. From about 1 am to 4 am with rain and in the dark the two boats need to be saved from damage, by moving another Swedish boat and putting the other two boats along the shore parallel to each other.  Don't know why, but again my anchor can serve well to get this done.

The weather is now really instable: a lot of wind and rain. Via the small island Broken we sail to Arkösund. We get windforce 8 and very steep, high disordered waves. We stay for two nights in Arkösund because the wind is force 8-9 and also from the wrong direction. While drinking tea in the club house of the harbour we see at the ceiling the typical Swedish round "Knäckebröd" drying. 

One of our wishes is, like last year, to visit the island Häskö. The island is covered by a very old forest. It has about 10 inhabitants of which most are fisherman. We moore in a beautiful, (attractively) snug bay with red, wooden fisherman houses. The men are extremely friendly, dirty and don't speak more than a few words English or German. There is a sauna, wooden tubs with warm water to duck, a kind of outside "library" with old stereo equipment, a tv, grills.......they really want you to feel good!  Everything is extremely relaxed and you can buy fresh and smoked fish. Besides that the prices are extremely low. I buy 2 huge fresh eels. They are still in a net in the water, so you can follow the whole process of getting, decapitating and grazing (?) them. It is wise not to stand too close, becayse they don't see or feel dirt. The "clean" their hands with a curtain hanging in the fisherman house (which I saw on a photo of last year too....). If you see the hair of one of those really extremely nice guys, you wonder if the fat of the eel serves as gel for his hair......enjoying and shivering!

On August 7th we sail to Figeholm via Flatvarp (nice, but not special) and the bigger "city" Västervik (very customer unfriendly, harbour far too expensive, not worthy to sail to). Figeholm is a magnificent club harbour with all facilities. Also here we have to stay one night extra, because of strong winds.

Borgholm and Bergkvara are stops at our sailing tour (with storm and rain) to Kristianopel, in which harbour we stay again for two days because of wind. It is a beautiful old, extremely small city with the city walls partially still in tact and a lot of typical Swedish wooden houses with very well maintained gardens. The first evening there is a motor-bike festival (200!) just in front of the boats.  We see a lot of very modern to antique motor-bikes, which are all in top condition. It is very enjoyable with a clear sky coloured by the rainbow. Not only the bike riders enjoy!

We arrive at really one of the most impressing islands, named Utklippan. It is about 15 miles South of the main land of Sweden, doesn't have permanent inhabitants and consists from two slightly larger (still very small !) islands surrounded by a lot of smaller islands / rocks. It is really pure nature and a protected area. At the smaller islands there are a countless number of birds and at one of them several tens of seals that really dictate the environment with their howling (the photograph is qualitatively less, because of the big enlargement). Also during the night you hear the seals continuously. The natural harbour is at the North side. The Swedish cruising club has put some rowing boats in the harbour to go to the southerly island (about 600 feet). It is really a beautiful environmen. The photographs give an impression. 
During summer there is a harbour master, a man with a big belly, a white knitted jersey under a blue blazer with golden buttons, peaked cap and blue boots.....very stereotypically, but in his behaviour far too commercially for this environment.

Next day is a merry-go-round with respect to the destination. The wind changes so often in force and especially direction, that we change direction (and distance) three to four times, finally arriving at the island Hanö (about 50 miles). Hanö is really beautiful and small with about 50 inhabitants and no cars. In the marvellous light of sunset everything looks wonderful. There is one small restaurant with excellent food and a outside terrace at the seaside, where we enjoy dinner and the evening.
The harbour has an open side to the North and during the night and morning we get a strong force 6-7 from that direction. 

The next days we sail mainly via the same villages as in the beginning of the holiday: Skillinge, Ystad, Gislöv Laege (3 days because of gale) to Rödvig in Denmark (arrival August 22nd). Rödvig is an important fisherman's harbour at a white cliff coast that is suffering a lot of erosion. A stranded fisherman's boat is considered the symbol for the village. It is not a very interesting place. During the night, with heavy rain showers, I  decorate the boat of Arie and Nelleke. Next day is her birthday. Coloured, small flags and -meant to be innocent- balloons, that are seen by Nelleke as giant dildos,  brighten up their boat. Luckily, we have a lot of fun that day, while rain and storm sweep our boats.

From now on I keep a close watch to the long term weather forecast. It is very important to have the right wind in teh German Bight. We sail the next days based on that planning, slowing down and have fun or speeding up based on the long term plan. We sail via Vordingborg (a quiet, nice harbour) and Spodsbjerg (the only harbour at the east side of Langeland) to the most southerly harbour of Langeland (Bagenkop). From here it is about 30 miles to Kiel. In the next days we go to Cuxhaven (at the Elbe) because there is a possibility to take the German Bight in the weekend of August 30/31st. In Cuxhaven we decide to wait anther day, because there is not enough wind and the following day it looks better. We enjoy the day biking, walking, having dinner. We see also nice things from the past. First of all the light ship ELBE 1 (nowadays replaced by modern automatically working light boys), that I had to sail to in the past on my first trips to Denmark (beginning of eighties). Secondly, we admire an old, antique instrument, that was manned in the past to indicate the wind -force and direction- at Helgoland and Borkum for the ships leaving Cuxhaven.  
On Sunday 31/8 we leave at 4 in the morning Cuxhave to Lauwersoog in The Netherlands (111 miles). It takes us 17.5 hours with a wind between force 3 and 6 from South-East. Arriving at the Dutch Coast is this time a bit difficult, because at arrival we detect that our charts are not fully up-to-date and boys have been moved a lot. The Frisian Islands change a lot even after 4 months of absence! Luckily we manage to pass the unlit boys before dark and the last 5 miles we have a nice lighted highway to the harbour. The locks are closed and we moore the boats at a pontoon, that in fact is forbidden for mooring. But it will only be for the night.

The wind stays very strong and we decide to sail through the North of The Netherlands via the IJsselmeer to Amsterdam. There we see our kids again and have dinner in the city.
It takes us finally until September 10th to arrive in our home harbour.
(All places have been described at the start of our trip in part one.)

We have had a very nice, beautiful, relaxed and interesting journey. In total we have sailed about 2700 miles. The weather was on average not as beautiful as last year, but in the first 2-2.5 month it was very good (dry, temperatures on average beginning twenties Celcius). Only the last month we have had our portion of rain and wind.

It is nice to be at home, to see our kids, family and friends, but thoughts and plans are already arrising at least in my head........

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