A journey in sea kayak and the blog

In the summer of 2018, I did a long journey in my sea kayak.
I had a burning desire to go on a long trip at sea. Not a trip together with others for a week or two. I wanted to be away for a long time, and I wanted to do it alone.
I had been on trips to the Faroe Islands, Northern Norway and other places in the past, but this time I didn’t want all the hassle of a long travel. I don’t have anything against kayaking trips made in that way – not at all, but this trip was going to be as free of logistics as possible. It would also allow me to spend my money on a kayak instead on a lot of travel expenses.
Above all, though, the idea was that it should be a simple trip: easy to get out, easy to plan, easy to finance and with as much kayak-joy as possible.

Where from – where to?

The obvious choice was to start from the club’s kayak shed on Holmen, where my kayak lives. I had initially thought of paddling around Denmark, but I wanted a nature experience that was less familiar. I had taken two months off and wanted to paddle as far as I could in one direction for a month and then turn around and paddle back home again.
The goal of the journey in sea kayak was not a place as such, but the trip itself and the landscape I could paddle through in those two months.

The Swedish Archipelago

I chose the archipelago along the west coast of Sweden as the destination for the trip. From Denmark to Sweden, up past the open coast, up to the archipelago north of Gothenburg. Then as far north through the archipelago as I could get before I would have to turn around and start the trip home.
That way the archipelago would be the physical goal of this trip. I love at the west coast of Sweeden, the archipelago there is big and beautiful.

How did the journey in sea kayak turn out?

A few things changed a bit from my original plan. Instead of starting from Copenhagen, I started from Hornbæk. I paddled all the way to the Norwegian border, but I didn’t make it all the way home. I was picked up in Marstrand after heading south for a while.
I wanted to share my experiences, and I decided to write this blog and give regular updates on the trip while I was paddling.
Writing the blog became an exciting part of the journey. Pretty much every afternoon I wrote and posted, and it surprised me how many people found it interesting to follow my adventures.

I’ve compiled the stories from each day into five posts where you can read about the whole trip:
Sea kayaking in the archipelago – diary, part one
Sea kayaking in the archipelago – part two
Sea kayaking in the archipelago – part three of the diary
Kayaking in the archipelago – diary, part four
The posts are in Danish, but they do have maps and some nice photos. I have also collected all the photos here:
Photos, part 1
Photos, part 2
Photos, part 3

Were my expectations for the journey met?

The trip was a fantastic experience, and it gave me the courage both to keep writing this blog, and to get out on even more long kayaking trips.
For me, the best nature experiences are linked to the sea, and I want to have more!