
Over the past 10 days we have yet again had some fantastic sailing and ended each day either moored or anchored in some amazing spots, all of which were new to Velvet Lady. We never knew what we were going to find until we got there! We started in Tonsberg and spent our first day sailing across Oslo Fjord to Hanko, where Danish royalty keep their yachts. We were made most welcome in the tiny marina, and the harbour master helped make a space for us moving other boats out of the way. We continued south from Norway along the Swedish coast visiting harbours and anchorages and watched the scenery and landscape change from bare and rocky to green and lush with many sandy beaches.
This was a milebuilding trip and we sailed 385 miles in our 9 days including one night sail. I say night sail; it was only dark for 2 hours and light enough to see as we dropped our anchor at 3am. As on any sailing trip the one thing we have no control over is the wind, and this week it was quite often on our nose, making us all very proficient at tacking.
After 2 nights in Norway and 6 nights in Sweden we came to my favourite stop of the trip in Helsingor, Denmark. Here the harbour master told us to choose where we pleased and we moored almost in the grounds of ‘Hamlets Castle’. Kronborg castle, as it is properly known has been here for almost 600 years and was originally used to control who sailed through the sound between Denmark and Sweden and ensure they paid their dues. Our mooring spot made a fantastic picture, and we also had time to visit the castle before our last day sailing to Copenhagen.
There are many marina options in and around Copenhagen, but as part of our adventure we were really hoping that we would be able to find a space near to the city centre and so decided to go looking! Luck was definitely on our side and I was very pleased there was no wind as we reversed Velvet Lady down the narrow Christians Havn Canal and finally found a space long enough for us. The canal is very narrow and on the sightseeing boats route so we had to make sure that we had left enough room for these wide barges to pass by.
We really are right in the city centre, very atmospheric, and it made a great end to the trip. We have everything we need, water, electricity, laundry and we are ideally situated to explore Copenhagen for a couple of days before our next trip starts. Richard and I are planning on going on a bike ride tomorrow, using the amazing ‘City Bike’ scheme. There are over 2000 free bikes scattered about the city, especially at train stations and busy places, and for a 20krone deposit you can borrow one for the day. We have found the nearest bike rack is at the end of our dock so we don’t even have far to walk!
After Copenhagen we are looking forward to the opportunity to visit many more old and historic places as we set off amongst the islands to Arhus. There is still time and a few places left for you to book and join us exploring in Denmark. Why not take a look at our website