Day Forty Seven Sunday 4th September

Woke to a decidedly autumnal chill in the air. And it has alternated drizzle and full on rain all day. We crossed back from the island to Oregrund on the ferry. It really is a very pretty little place, with the wooden buildings in a handful of different colours - pale green, cream,yellow ochre and rusty red. The last two we are quite used to by now. Once again we set off with no clear idea of where we were heading, but first stop was Osterhammar, where again Swedbank provided our internet fix. We rather hope there isn't some person in Swedbank's head office whose job it is to monitor the entrances to the Banks. We had already decided that we would make the crossing to Finland via Åland, an area of 6,700 (!) islands between Sweden and Finland. Although closer to Sweden it is actually part of Finland; currency is the Euro, but they speak Swedish! You can take a ferry from one of three places in Sweden - Grisslehamn, Kapellskar or Stockholm. We thought we would investigate Grisslehamn as it was quite close, and the upshot is that we are here for the night in the little harbour, and booked on the ferry to Eckero tomorrow morning! Grisslehamn is a tiny place, and its main attraction is clearly the ferry, and the opportunity for duty free day trips. The crossing takes 2 hours. As we ate supper (it was already dark) we watched the third and last ferry of the day come in, disgorge its passengers and cars, take on a new lot, and leave again. It is about the size of the bigger Isle of Wight ferries, at a guess. So tonight is our last night in Sweden. It is a very, very beautiful country, and we have loved it here, and plan to return.