I was supposed to fly to Bienenfarm for the Stearman & Friends fly-in, but the ceiling over the southern Zealand was low thus making a VFR flight impossible. I wouldn’t be able to cross over to Germany, even not over the Femer Belt. The weather looked much better in Sweden, and very early in the morning I took a decision to fly to Öland, a beautiful Swedish island in the Baltic sea off the coast of Småland.
The weather in the morning was worse than forecast, but at least it was possible to make it to Höganäs first. Coasting out from Denmark, and Helsingor from air:
My friend Henrik joined me for this trip. After waiting in Höganäs for about an hour, and with the special VFR permission we continued to our destination. The weather was getting better as further north-east we were going. Mockeln lake:
And soon we had blue skies over us.
A beautiful photo Henrik took over the Kalmar Strait:
I love flying over Swedish straits, lakes, belts… There are always hundreds of small islands, and it looks heavenly from air. One of those moments when I appreciate being a pilot most.
We were going to the Ölanda airfield, located in the northernmost part of Öland. The island is second largest in Sweden. It is 137 km long, and 16 km wide. We flew over the eastern part of Öland with its white sand beaches:
We did a round over the Sandvik airfield. A road is crossing the runway in the middle. It looked like a desert from air:
Ölanda airfield soon welcomed us:
It has an excellent 600 m long asphalt runway. The landing fee is 50 SEK, and it is free if you refuel there (100 LL 24 SEK per liter at that time). The club house was closed, but Bengt Eklund from the flying club had arranged the bikes delivered to the airfield for us. The bikes were 130 SEK per day.
We took the bikes and found the place where we were going to stay – Hälludden Stugby – a couple of kilometers from the airfield.
A small cottage we had booked was already taken. No problem, we got a bigger and more expensive one instead! The place is managed on a daily basis by Monica and Anton, a sweet couple retied at least 25 years ago. Don’t expect efficiency of a 5-star hotel; but the place is nice, clean, quite, everything is at hand and is based on trust (good sign!). There is a large building with a breakfast room, with food in the fridges, always open; you take the food you need, make tea and coffee, put money in the box placed there.
We dropped our bags, and went exploring the nearby places. A stunning beach on our way:
We went to Byxelkrok, a picturesque fishing village, where we had an early dinner at the Alissa restaurant (in the harbour, near Kroken cafe). Henrik was very happy about his pizza, but my fish was terrible. It was also served 10 min before Henrik’s pizza, so that it could get cold before we started eating – quite unprofessional. The hummus made of fresh peas was good.
A walk in the harbour:
The rest of the evening was spent on our terrace, drinking rosé and doing after-flight paperwork. Well, the rosé was a cider with 0.3% alcohol. We wanted to buy a bottle of wine and wondered around in a supermarket after dinner looking for wine. Then we realized we were in Sweden (you need to go to a special wine shops called Systembolaget), and settled for what was on offer – and it was a good choice. The cider was locally produced and had a great taste.
Our first day on the island was wonderful. We managed all those very last minute changes, and all people we contacted with a short notice did everything they could to help us. The sun was shining, birds singing, and we were happy.
