Kayaking in Sweden

This article describes a Sea Kayaking in Sörmlands Archipelago tour and was previously published in Paddles canoe and kayak magazine in September 2007. Please note that this experience is no longer part of our portfolio - for alternative sea kayaking tours in the eastern archipelago please see:

Sea Kayaking in the Stockholm Archipelago | Sea Kayaking in St. Anna Archipelago

Sea Kayaking in Style - three days in the Swedish archipelago

Sweden is perhaps not the first country that springs to most people's minds when planning a sea kayaking expedition, but with 2000 miles of coastline and a stunning archipelago of 24,000 islands easily reachable from the capital Stockholm, Sweden makes a wonderful destination for a sea kayaking holiday.

Sweden has a number of archipelago areas, each with its own special characteristics. Norrbotten archipelago in the far north covers a very large area and is ideally suited to extended trips. Further south there is the Häga Kusten (High Coast) with its rocky, dramatic islands, while the Stockholm archipelago is a wonderful combination of the remote and the accessible.

To the south of Stockholm lies the region of Sörmland, an area with an abundance of water and a picturesque archipelago made up of thousands of islands of granite and gneiss. When Erik, who operates our sea kayaking tours in Sweden, contacted me to say he had a spare space on the Sörmland trip and invited me to join, I jumped at the chance, ignoring the jealous looks from my colleagues at the Nature Travels office!

I was born in the archipelago town of Vaxholm and spent all my childhood summers at our summer house out on one of the lush, tree-covered islands of the central Stockholm "skärgård", so I am no stranger to the unique charms of this part of Sweden. But in the Sörmland archipelago it is possible to experience both the green landscape of the inner islands and the wide, wild expanses of the rocky, uninhabited skerries in the outer regions even on a shorter tour.

And so, at the beginning of June, beneath bright blue skies, I boarded my Ryanair flight to Stockholm Skavsta (more convenient for the Sörmland area than Stockholm's main airport, Arlanda) to begin my three-day Friday to Sunday sea kayaking adventure. June is a lovely time to visit Sweden, a time when the evenings seem to last forever and there is a certain buzz in the air as the Swedes prepare for the coming midsummer celebrations.

Our group, made up of our own English clients and a number of Swedish guests, assembled at Stendörren nature reserve in the afternoon on the Friday. We were treated to our first "fika" (a Swedish expression, which loses a lot when translated to "coffee and cake break" - this is not just a question of food, but a central part of Swedish culture!), which gave us a taste of the high quality food we could be expecting on the rest of the trip.

During the "fika" we were introduced to each other and to the guides Erik and Tommy. I was very impressed to discover that Tommy was a former Olympic kayaking silver medalist, and I determined to make the most of my chance to learn from a pro over the coming days. Erik took the opportunity to take us through the itinerary for the weekend, go through a few practical points and give us some tips on effective paddling technique.

When we had all been fed and watered, we were shown our kayaks and taken through the kayaking and camping equipment: spray skirts, paddles, sleeping mats and top-of-the-range Hilleberg tents.

With a little help and advice from our guides, we packed the kayaks. Although I have been sea kayaking before, I still count myself as something of a novice and I was amazed how much equipment could be stowed in the kayaks. When I saw all the kit spread out on the shore - a startling selection of food, good wines, beer, tents and sleeping mats, I thought, "This will never fit!" But somehow it all disappeared into the bowels of the kayaks and at last we were ready to take to the water.

We all felt a little nervous at first. I was in a single kayak, and I was expecting it to feel less stable than the twins, but it took just a few minutes before I felt completely at ease. The sea kayaks we were using were made by VKV, a Swedish family company that has been making high quality kayaks for generations.

Read part 2...>