Blogging at 22:00 on Sunday 18th August from intended overnighting spot N 59.21074°, E 17.64927° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:59.21074%2C17.64927
The run down to Naantali was a pleasant, crisp-autumnal-morning affair and, as a bonus, we saw two white-tailed deer on the quiet roads near our camp. Neither if us had seen this species before. They're very pretty things.
At Naantali we had the pleasure of being loaded onto a huge and virtually new Finnlines ship, the MV Finnsirius. What a vessel; it really is a thing to behold. Everything was absolutely spotless, even the car decks. Inside there was every modern convenience from hot tubs to the ubiquitous Finnish sauna. Cabins were beautifully finished (even our cheapo economy ones), and they even sported a touchscreen unit that allowed us to centrally control all lights, as well as control the temperature of the cabin's climate control system. Bonkers. Needless to say, free WiFi was also available, and this was fast and totally blip free.
Above and beyond this, the ship also has some pretty impressive environmental credentials and apparently works on a hybrid system of power generation that supposedly reduced emissions to zero whilst the ship is in dock.
Speaking of docking, no bank staff, wet ropes or limb-severing chains for this vessel. The thing appeared to be secured alongside by a series of what appeared to be huge electro-magnets (the yellow things in the pic). The future of ro-ro has arrived!
And then, to the sailing itself. The first thing that struck home was the sheer onboard civility. We'd seen the vehicles loading and they had all been (bar a couple) Swedish or Finnish registered. People on board were just plain quiet. There was no bustle, no affected demonstrative laughter, no raised voices, no screaming children, just civilised people doing civilised things in a civilised way: including the children. Monkey see, monkey do.
One of the civilised things revolved around the sauna. Numerous heavy gents frequently appeared from the professional drivers' lounge, popped into the sauna, and then - after a while - came out again (usually clad somewhat ineffectually in only a pure white towel) before sitting around out on deck chatting quietly with other similarly ineffectually attired heavy gents. It had all the looks of a stable of rikishi taking a break between training sessions. If we'd have been on the Dover - Calais service, this would have been very weird.
The passage itself is, as we knew from before, extraordinary. For the vast majority of the crossing the huge ship threads improbably through literally thousands of very beautiful islands and islets, punctuated by a quick stop off at the Åland Islands themselves. There's always something to see.
Some of the small islands and islets support opulent dwellings that are all glass and dramatic geometric shapes, some support more modest places, others still are just havens for birds. We saw countless thousands, including more white-tailed eagles than we've ever seen anywhere before.
The whole crossing is just unbelievable value for money. It's around nine hours in duration, cuts through some of the most spectacular cruising waters you'll ever see, on one of the most civilised ships you'll ever encounter. The grand total for this experience for two adults, including a private cabin, reliable WiFi, the lorry and an all-you-can-eat buffet (with excellent food) worked out at about £93 each. Absolutely unbelievable!
Post ship, and mindful of the distance we need to cover before tomorrow evening, I gave it a couple of early-evening hours behind the wheel before we dived into the underbelly of a random Swedish industrial estate somewhere southwest of Stockholm. The mapping will show where we are, I have little care or clue.
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