We cleaned up the car, left our camping equipment at the apartment in Helsinki, and drove into the centre of Helsinki to catch the Viking Lines ferry. It was a warm day with the car thermometer measuring 30C sometimes. It was somewhat of a tortured drive through the centre of Helsinki – 30kph speed limits, cobblestones, traffic lights every 30 metres – but we made it to the terminal.

Leaving Helsinki in the bright sunshine was fantastic, and a great way to remember a city we really liked. We were allocated a cabin at the stern of the ship, no windows (cheap tickets! ) but there were windows in the corridor that looked over the stern of the ship.

I got up at 4am when I heard the ship docking at Mariehamn in the Aland Islands.

Later in the morning we wound our way through the islands of the Stockholm archipelago.

Leaving Helsinki on a sunny afternoon the Ferry weaving its way through the islands

The islands off Helsinki

leaving Mariehamn in the Aland Islands at around 4am in fog

Winding our way through the Stockholm archipelago