The Flying Lentil The log of Festina Lente, Sigma 38

The Finnish and Aland archipelago’s were just up our street. They are wild , relatively deserted , and give an infinite choice of free anchorages. Life was so good there that we almost decided to forego a trip up the Gulf of Finland , so imagine our delight when we found that the coastal archipelago was just as nice ! All the Finnish boats were beetling West from Helsinki to take their holidays in the Aland and Swedish archipelagos , so it made sense to travel East, in the opposite direction.

From SE Finland

Halfway along the Finnish South coast you come to the city of Helsinki. It’s a handsome city like all the Nordic capitals but with evidence of its Russian history in the onion shaped domes of its churches and Swedish influence in the 17th century fortifications on its outer islands.

From SE Finland

We stayed on a small island in the mouth of the old harbour , moored up to one of the few wooden buildings to have survive from the late Russian period , a lovely old ornate pavilion with immaculate grounds and separated from the hurly burly of this very civilised city by a 2 minute ferry ride , and seemingly a hundred years! In fact , a hundred years ago Arther Ransome moored in this very spot in his new boat , ( Racundra’s First cruise) and his description of the club and the city are recognisable today.

From SE Finland