Yesterday started early. We left the harbour of Smygehuk at half past six in order to catch a nice NW breeze. We made good speed eastwards averaging close to 7 knots. But it was a very cold wind. Our tactic played out and the wind did not die out until we had rounded the SE corner of Skane – Sandhammaren.

After some motoring a new breeze from E picked up and we were again doing 6-7 knots. The gennaker came up as the wind gradually turned S and lost some of its pressure. We had the sun in the cockpit by then and had shred most of our clothes. It was really nice as long as you stayed behind the sprayhood. But the nose got a frost bite it you stuck it outside into the wind.

We were by now a bit into the bay of Hano (Hanöbukten). It is infamous for its waves and we had a really confused swell from different directions. It completely knocked the waning wind out of the sails. So, instead of a quiet afternoon reach, we had to motor the last few hours to Hano. 12 hours at sea had taken us 74 nm.

That evening we experienced a first for us. We heard someone call “Hello Sally” from the dock as we finished our dinner. “We saw you come in just had to come and see you.” Johanna and Marcus told us about how they have been following our blog for several years. They were on a weekend sail from their home port in nearby Ahus and were themselves planning a similar trip to the Med as the one we have done. We had some nice chats over wine that evening. Over coffee the next day, we asked for local advice on the area and where to go next.

Thus, todays walk got a bit delayed before we eventually headed off to explore the island. Hano has a long history. It was the Baltic base for the English navy during the Napoleon war 1810-12 and there is an old English graveyard on the hill. Our first goal was the northern tip of the island. It is very unusual with its pebble reef. It is called the bean sack and legend has it that a troll living ion the island was going to visit her children on the main lad bringing beans but the sack broke and spilled the beans.

A more plausible explanation is the retreating ice cover at the end of the last ice age. The wonder is that the pebbles stay in place. They are moved back and forth in the braking waves and pushed around by the winter ice. Still they remain in place. The nature of the island is in places quite barren. It has a considerable population of red deer and we saw some hidden among the trees later on our walk. The view from the lighthouse 60 above the sea is magnificent.