In the quest to explore new places and meet new people Mirna and I (Teejo) joined the Stockholm Mountain Club on an exciting weekend trip on the longest day of the year.
In February Girish, co-founder of the Bayreuth Mountain Club, reached out if I'd be up to join a camping trip near Stockholm. In Sweden, the longest day, June 21st, is a national holiday where people swarm into nature to enjoy the 18,5+ hours of daylight. Even at midnight the sky is still bright around Stockholm! Of course I couldn't pass on this invitation and so Mirna and I set off towards sweden.
On June 16th we had the car packed and started driving north. 4 Day, 1500km and a ferry later we arrived in Årsta Havsbad where we parked the car, packed our camping gear and joined the 30+ other campers on the ferry to the island Utö. 45 minutes later we arrived at the port of Gruvbyn. From here we started the 10km hike with our heavy backpacks to the Stora Sand beach where we would spend the weekend.
Once arrived at the beach everyone was quick to pick the best spot at pitch their tents at the tree line. Not long after the first were already in the water and on the beach. But most didn't stay for longer than a short dip since the water of the Baltic Sea was still very cold!
In the evening we started the campfire and started grilling our food, playing games, singing and dancing till deep into the night.
The next day was a easy start, we got a fire going again to make our coffees and breakfast. After breakfast some rode into the town on rented cargo bikes to resupply the group with drinking water, food and drinks. Interestingly enough, the shops didn't sell anything alcoholic with a percentage over 3,5% because of the Midsummer Festivities.
The rest of the day was mostly just lying on the beach, playing card games en enjoying the sun. In the evening there was more BBQ'ing, dancing/singing and just general conversations going on everywhere. The next morning (almost) everyone woke up early for a quick breakfast and packing up camp since we were planning on taking the ferry back to the mainland in the early afternoon. So once all packed up we started hiking towards the ferry on the other side of the island.
Just next to the port there was the amazing fish restaurant Båtshaket på Ålö where we filled our stomachs with amazing fish dishes before we boarded the ferry and the amazing weekend came to an end.
