Lady Hamilton 2019

KOKAR

Day 65  Sunday, 4^th August 2019

Have showers and a leisurely breakfast with home-baked rolls from the shop and real coffee.  It is Sunday after all!

We walk to the church over the boulders with lots of heather out on the rocks, and pass a meadow full of wild flowers. 

The way is guided by ivory bows tied to bushes and trees and small cairns.

St. Anne’s is a 17^th century church built on the site of an old Franciscan monastery, founded in Hamno (another island in the Kokar group of islands) in the 15^th century. 

 

We fail to find the bronze age settlement as we can’t decipher the signs.

In the afternoon we have a car for 2 hours – from 2 until 4 pm – although the Harbour Master tells me that there’s non-one coming after us so we can keep it for a little longer.  We’ve never had a cabriolet in our lives before – even one with 217,000 kms on the clock! 

We drive to the museum in Helso (another island in the Kokar group!) and a lady greets us very warmly and we have to part with 3 euros each. 

She tells us about the stone – they used to hit it with a small rock when there was fog.  The sound penetrated the fog and the fishermen could steer towards it for safety.  It’s certainly got a fantastic ring to it!

We think this looks like tartan and Harris tweed!

There are lots of old photos in the museum of fishermen.  They caught herring and had it salted in barrels which were sent to Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn.  We walked to a fisherman’s hut down a leafy lane.  And this is the first tractor in Kokar!

Magnus Jansson was a sheep shearer and fisherman.  This is a picture of his boat and him on a rocky shore with a half-sheared sheep.  This is for my cousin Helen in Australia, whose husband was a part-time sheep shearer.

 After that we drive to a marina on the same island but the fuel isn’t open here (we’d like to put 10 euros of fuel in the car).  This is a beautiful marina, one of three on the island.  We now drive to Karlby, the main village, where there’s another beautiful marina.  We go to the small supermarket and buy groceries – including a can of Heinz baked beans, which costs 2.75 euros (more than £2)!  I need them for tea as I’m cooking what is basically an English Breakfast.  We put fuel in the car, assisted by another helpful Finn.

We drive back to Sandvig, where our boat is, and admire the scenery on the way.  I spot a group of white cows and many hay bales wrapped in plastic.  It’s a lovely island and we’re so pleased to have driven all over it!