Wednesday 31 August

 Beautiful sunrise at about 6:30 EET. We cycle off, over bridges and the cable ferry and have a whizz round the ruins at Bomersand, an old Russian fortress bombarded by British and French during the Crimean war. Aland used to be under Russian control. Also a visit to the 15thC church of St Matthias with its suspended boat.

Lunch at Smakbyn. For 12 euros we get salads, Swedish Lax pudding and coffee. Delicious. We also have an Aland craft beer and to follow an Aland pancake. We talk to some friendly Swedes on the next table. He was born on Aland. His aunt is 90 and has a house on Kökar island. They point to it on my map and laugh at my pronunciation. There’s an almighty downpour as we have lunch. 

We cycle past Kastelholm Slott castle on our return but are not tempted inside. 36 miles in total. We see the white tailed sea eagle circling around as we sit outside in the sun. The evening is spent inside the van with heavy rain drumming on the roof!