End of Paddling

This morning, after much back and forth, I made the decision to end my paddling tour here in Söderköping!
I would have had a nice day of paddling tomorrow, but after that there is a lot of wind forecast, just when I leave the St. Anna archipelago and go around Arkösund. The temperatures have dropped rapidly, there are very few people anywhere, no larger towns and I don't have the right equipment (e.g. dry suit) for such an undertaking. I would probably have dared to deal with just one of these factors, but all of them together is a bit too heavy for me! Being stuck somewhere in the cold for several days and not being able to leave is kind of stupid. Here in Söderköping I still have infrastructure and can pack everything up in peace tomorrow, take my boat apart and take the bus and train to Uppsala. That was planned differently, but I had the option of breaking off the tour at some point or somewhere with the folding boat from the start...

Maybe I'll do the rest of the way by paddling someday.... On the one hand, I am very happy with my performance so far, after all, I paddled 880 km in 33 days. It was a great tour with the best weather! At the same time, I think it's a bit of a shame that I'm missing the rest of the tour through the archipelago here in the Baltic Sea, but "safety first" is probably the right decision. I'm now looking forward to seeing Claus, who I'll reach by train tomorrow. In Uppsala it was already -3°C yesterday.

[This footprint is set to Mem. Here (near Söderköping) is the last (or first) lock of the Göta Canal. Behind (or in front of) it lies the Baltic Sea.]Read more