After ten days as a crew of four, we were back to just the two of us — and the cats, of course!

It was time to leave the big city behind and return to the kind of life we love most: quiet anchorages, little islands and small fishing towns.

Leaving Gothenburg was quite an experience. There were huge cargo ships, shipyards, industrial harbours and cruise ships everywhere. After about an hour, we were finally able to set the genoa and slowly leave the busy shipping area behind us. We were very much looking forward to a quiet night at anchor!

Our journey along the Swedish west coast was beautiful, with one particular highlight: sailing through the short Sotekanalen.

The canal was built for two very different reasons. The first was the frequently dangerous currents and wind conditions along this part of the northern Skagerrak. The second was a much more human reason: unemployment among the local stonemasons was rising rapidly, so the canal was built to provide work for around 200 of them.

The day before we finally left Sweden for Norway, we had another great day of sailing - until, completely out of nowhere, a wall of rain came towards us.

Within seconds, both the boat and we were soaking wet. The wind suddenly picked up to around 25 knots, and we barely managed to roll in the genoa before things could get bad. Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the rain stopped, the wind died down, and everything was calm again.

Since we were completely soaked and there was a little harbour nearby, we decided that we had had enough excitement for the day and tied our boat up for tonight.

The next morning, we filled up our diesel tank, left the harbour and pointed the bow towards Norway.

What an exciting moment!

The passage to Norway was intense, but also pretty enjoyable. We had fairly strong winds, but the wind direction and our course worked perfectly together, making the sailing surprisingly comfortable. The wind was actually so good that we decided to sail further than originally planned. After about six hours of fantastic sailing in beautiful weather, however, the wind suddenly disappeared.

And then it got even more interesting.

About an hour later, the wind turned around completely and started blowing straight towards us. It quickly increased to around 20 knots, bringing big waves with it. The last hour before we could reach the shelter of the islands turned into a bit of a fight - definitely not what we had expected a few hours ago.

Nevertheless, we made it safely into a beautiful anchorage, dropped the anchor and were more than ready for some food and a good night's sleep.

The next morning, while having breakfast, we checked the weather forecast and realised that the wind was going to be on our nose for the next week or so. We didn't really want to wait around for the wind to change, especially since the forecast didn't suggest that it would happen anytime soon. So we lifted the anchor and started looking for a route that would give us as much protection from the wind and waves as possible.

We slowly fought our way south to Arendal, which turned out to be a beautiful town with a lovely harbour. In fact, we liked it so much that we decided to stay for an extra day.

Unfortunately, our bonus day came with plenty of rain. But we decided to make the most of it and started another boat project that had been on our list for almost two years. The wall around our windows had never really looked very nice, and ever since we bought Lív, we had wanted to do something about them. By chance, we found a nice white adhesive foil that we could use to cover the walls in a shop in Arendal.

So, while the rain was coming down outside, we stayed on board and gave Lív a little makeover.

Now we're ready to continue our journey around the southernmost part of Norway — and we can't wait to tell you what comes next!

Day 62: Göteborg SE - Otterlyckan North SE