After an entertaining (?!?) night on the ferry in the company of a Norwegian couple, we arrived at Gothenburg on the ferry this morning at 9.15am – exactly when the timetable said – and by a complete fluke, we were the very first car off the ferry. Apart from a few questions from Swedish Customs (we said we had nothing to declare, though a few bottles of whisky were well hidden in the car), we got through quickly and headed north to Nordvikstrand (near Skärhamn) – about an hour and a half’s drive.
Once there, we met the previous owner of Amalia – Rune. He and Ric had spent the last few days rigging the boat, so we had arrived with immaculate timing. Everything was done! After a lovely coffee and catch up with Rune and his wife we headed off shopping and generally sorted things out. Much of the time was spent trying to work out what went where and then, once we had done that, working out where it would be better to put it. Most things moved around several times, a process which will no doubt continue.
Early evening, more or less everything was done (provisionally) and after a drink with Rune and his wife, we settled down for our first evening on the new boat. We were moored in Rune’s private harbour – a beautiful spot just south of Skärhamn where the boat had been launched. The night was a little bumpy as the harbour was exposed to the fairly strong westerlies, but the lack of sleep had just as much to do with it being the first night on a completely different boat.
