Almost as far as Lumparland

We woke to another cloudless morning. Should we stay here in idyllic Kattanäs or push on to explorer more of the Arland archipelago? Again it was the need for a washing machine that was the decider. There was one here, but the laundry room was locked and out of season reception unmanned. In fact the entire place runs on an honesty box system. When you leave you simply post what you owe in a letter box screwed to the side of the reception hut.

At €18 euros per night it's cheap by Scandinavian standards, though showers are €2 for 3 minutes and 5 litres of hot water at the washing-up sinks required a 50 cent coin. As well putting the price up it does presume you have loose change in euros.

So with a twinge of regret we packed up, popped what we owed in the honesty box and headed for the campsite at Årland's biggest town, Mariahamn. Indeed, since the archipelago has the status of an autonomous territory I suppose the place could be regarded as its capital, it does have its own flag, and car registration plates, but has yet to get a listing in the CIA World Factbook. 

There are 6700 islands in the archipelago, most are not much bigger than a rock and uninhabited. The larger ones are connected by road bridges and with more time it would have been possible to explore a few, but we were limited to a three night stay so opted to stay at the Mariehamn site. As we drove towards it there were road signs to more exotic, far flung destinations, including 'Lumparland'. It sounded like some strange country inhabited by small, terrifying monsters. A place Roald Dahl might have imagined to scare the living daylights out of seven year olds. We never got there to check.

Mariahamn campsite is in a green space on the edge of town, an extension of the town park really. While our  washing was wafting we took a walk. The park ran alongside the shore. It was lined with marinas and fish restaurants.

As well as the usual beach volleyball pitch, mini-golf and adventure playground it had a small animal zoo. I think the keeper a couple of years ago must have been a feminist with a sense of humour, all the female rabbits from that era had names like Simone de Beauvoir and Janis Joplin.

Next day we cycled into the centre of Mariehavn. A pleasant place, a few older wooden buildings, but mainly mid to late twentieth century concrete. I commented a week or two ago when we were in Trollhãtten, 'why can't you have stylish utilitarianism - egalitarian panache?

Perhaps Mariehamn achieves this; the main street was a hotchpotch of styles from the forties till now, the placed buzzed with shoppers and people sitting in cafés, there were big wooden planters dotted about full of brightly coloured flowers, it was all very jolly.

We had stocked up yesterday at the big 'Smarket' store on the edge of town, but you always forget something, in this case eggs and milk. Luckily there was a smaller Smarket 'city' in the town centre. We got what we required and a few things extra, particularly a few more small cans of Åland craft beer.

There are two microbreweries on the islands, both produce interesting contemporary style beer. We not really craft beer aficionados like our daughter and her partner, but with beers as good as these we could become converts.

Since the thundery showers of a few days ago the weather has just got better and better. Today has been glorious with temperatures notching towards 30° a light breeze and cloudless skies - a Mediterranean Baltic. Whenever I visit a new sea I feel it would be rude not to have a swim in it - to pay one's respects if you like. It was still warm in the early evening, I had to do it.

'How was that?' Gill enquired after I had take a short dip.

'Exactly as would expect the Baltic to be,' I replied. This evening the shallow inlet beside us may have assumed a deep blue more associated with more southerly seas, but its temperature remained uncompromisingly Nordic.

On our final day we headed a few kilometres south following cycle tracks towards Ytternäs, rural suburbs of Mariehavn really, but so green and lovely. I had no mental image of what Finland might look like, but I never would have imagined it like this. Not just the ash and birch forests, but the waysides covered in wild flowers.

This morning as we were due to leave I exchanged messages with 'Motoroaming' - fellow Moho bloggers who have been travelling through Denmark and Sweden. It looked as if our time in Stockholm may have coincided but now it seems we will just miss each other. E-waves will have to suffice, not the beer we discussed. They are being more intrepid than us and heading towards the Arctic circle for the Summer Solstice. We had only just remarked that neither of us had seen another British van since leaving Denmark when one turned up here - very memorable, a venerable 'K' reg tangerine coloured  VW Camper, very stylish. By my reckoning it must date from 1970 or 71. 

You would have to be fairly intrepid to travel thousands of miles in a VW camper. The eco-minded owner of Bubulcus and Bolatas campsite in Portugal took one look at our van when we rolled up and remarked, 'you are not really camping are you?' I suppose we are not, but then we live almost half our life on the road, it isn't a camping holiday,it's a way of life, our moveable home.

I guess it was that thought which prompted me to post this picture on our Facebook group a couple of days ago, suitably captioned...