An adventure named BJÖRKÖ

Or Into the wild with Anja M.

Or I'm a survivor of Björkö! ;-)

Last weekend, I finally visited this island I had seen on a map already years ago. I had fallen in love with the tiny lake in the middle of an island in the baltic sea. :-) BJÖRKÖ, that's where I wanted to go!

On Friday, the time had finally come. After work, I drove to Kirjais (Nauvo) to take the ferry boat to Björkö. The boat trip took 2,5 hours and went well. Stöpsel was too afraid to enter the boat by himself (I had to carry him on board), but then he was cool & happy as ever. He just looked at the sights near and far or he took a nap. Not so Charlie, who was alright while we were on deck of the boat, but started to panic when we went inside, because it had gotten too chilly on deck. So I made a compromise: I stayed inside the boat, protected from the wind, but close to the door, so that Charlie could be outside 'in freedom'. :-D

We arrived on Björkö at around 21:00. My idea had been that we will arrive at 'harbour Byviken', which is close to the camping site I was heading to. But wrong, very wrong! When you travel to Björkö on a budget - meaning you don't arrive with your own sailing boat at Byviken bay, but instead take the (free!!) public transportation (M/S Nordep) - you arrive basically at the opposite site of the island.   

When a woman (born and grown up on Björkö, imagine that ;-) ) heard that I am aiming for Björkö's camping site, she looked worried and she came to explain to me in great detail how I could find the camping site. "Walk south", she said, "try to keep a straight line", she said, "but that will be difficult as it goes up and down, so best you orientate yourself at the fence for the cows" she said. I was sure she was exaggerating and probably totally underestimating my outdoor skills. Hello? How hard can it be to go from the harbour to the camping site? The island wasn't the size of of New Zealand... But well, well, I was punished for my arrogance shortly thereafter. 

There was absolutely no trail, no path what so ever. Nothing. De nada. Just steep rocks, swamps and bushes in all sizes and varying degrees of thorns. And with "up and down" the woman wasn't talking about a hilly environment. No! She meant rocks that suddenly appear in front of you, 5 meters high, or steep cliffs, where I had the choice to climb over or fight my way around it. I am not exaggerating! It was a jungle! Totally untouched nature, being peppered with loads of cow shit (rather impressive where those big cows can get to!). 

Soon I lost orientation, but gained fear I could step on a snake, because I simply didn't see where I placed my foot. Plus my stupid, stupid luggage... In my fear I may starve over the weekend, I had packed a lot of food and water (for the dogs and me), and as my backpack was already stuffed with the tent, sleeping back etc. I had taken this very handy trolley with me... It was so heavy, I could barely lift it up, but I was sure I wouldn't need to carry it for too long (and I thought I'd be tough enough to carry it for a short while...).
Well, if only I would have known! Fighting my way through bushes and climbing over rocks, the trolley was more than a burden. I had to walk a few meters with my backpack and then go back to get the trolley, too. Without even knowing, whether I am heading in the right direction, while the sun was slowly setting in my back and huge mosquito swarms were forming over my head...

On top of all that, the fences to keep the cows in place, were everywhere. I couldn't see any pattern or logic in their position (a fact, which may give you a clue about my walking pattern... ;-) ). And they were electrical fences. Of course. I felt like a soldier practicing for war, when throwing my backpack over the fence and pushing my stupid trolley under the fence to then climb through it myself - experiencing here and there a few electrical shocks, but not too bad. ;-)

Holy cow! I swore a lot that evening... ;-) Mainly about my own stupidity.

But miraculously, I indeed managed to reach the camping site after I don't know how much time had passed. However, I have no clue why I even bothered to go to this 'camping site'. There was only a small cottage, which was locked as nobody was renting it at the time. There was also a small sauna and an outdoor toilet - but both locked as well. And the rest of the camping site was a big rock - just like everything else around - and I was wondering, where to set up my tent... But being tired and all, I didn't think too hard and simply assembled the tent right where I was standing. Because of the hard ground, I didn't use any tent pegs, hoping it wouldn't matter too much...

Once I was finally lying in my tent, I was so very, very happy. I felt deep satisfaction with myself. ;-) Plus all the mosquitos, which were attracted by our CO2 emission, failed to get to us. What a simple joy that was. :-D And also the boys, especially Stöpsel, settled in quickly. Charlie was more like saying: That, too? Seriously? :-D

But then night fell. And it was getting cold. Despite the long winter underwear, I shivered. And so were my poor dogs, who slept on the bare tent ground. They came to press themselves against me, and so we all survived this night without freezing too much (only a little bit).

But then Saturday was awesome! Forgotten all the trouble! I was thrilled to use my camping cooker for the first time. I had coffee and porridge, the sun was shining and the view was simply spectacular! :-)

After breakfast, we went on a hike around the lake, which was so very beautiful!!! And, oh wonder, the nature trail around the lake was very nicely marked. Every 5 meters a new sign guiding the way - it was almost too many labels. :-D

I was only afraid something might happen to Stöpsel, as he quite carelessly jumped around, not minding steep edges or snakes in the bushes (on the contrary, he even tried to catch them). Inevitably, Stöpsel then fell in the one and only lake on that island! He was too shocked to follow my signs of where he could easily get out of the water, so I tried to pull him out from his collar. Which worked - except that I fell in the water instead. While falling, I managed to throw away the mobile phone in my hand, but my video camera went down with me... 😐

Soaking wet, we went back to the camping site, where I took all my clothes off. After all, being alone on an island must have its advantages, I thought. ;-) Because the sun was shining, my clothes were ready to use after 2 hours (and I got a nice tan), and we went to hike around the lake again. I was so amazed about the landscape! Absolutely stunning. Only a few angry birds were disturbing, but no major incidences there ;-)

In the evening, I happily cooked myself a meal and enjoyed the scenery, while the dogs were resting in the shadow. Two sailing boats came to anchor for the night. One of them was German. What are the odds? ;-) But I didn't stay up too late, because the mosquitos were quite a plague...

But then night fell once again. At 4 o'clock it started to rain. Heavily. I was scared my tent wouldn't hold the rain, because I hadn't spanned it properly. But thankfully, no drop of water got inside! Instead, the cold creeped in. Due to the moisture, it was even colder than the night before. The dogs were freezing badly, so I took one after another into my sleeping bag, so they could warm up a bit. The blanket I had used as a pillow I wrapped around the other dog. Especially Stöpsel liked being in the sleeping back, he even refused to leave the tent in the morning. :)

But outside really wasn't inviting at all. It rained and rained and rained. Within minutes I was totally soaked. And so were the dogs. At least, it didn't get cold, because the struggle to find the harbour again had only just begun. It was even worse than on Friday evening. I completely lost orientation and wondered around in circles. My stupid trolley wasn't so heavy anymore, but carrying it over slippery rocks, marching through hip-high bushes and jumping over cliffs still wasn't enjoyable with that thing in my hand.

At some point, the battery of my phone was about to die and with a slight hint of panic raising in me, I called a friend so that she could call the people on the ferry boat in case I wouldn't find the harbour in time (and my phone being dead). Just after I had hung up, I noticed that the dogs were getting excited, running in one direction. I was sure that it was the wrong direction, so I followed them to call them back - and I saw the harbour! The dogs certainly have the much better sense of orientation, if only I could tell them, where I want to go... ;-)

After about 2 hours being totally lost, I almost cried in relief. But soon I had to realise yet another problem. The boat wasn't to come before another 2 hours. It rained and there was no shelter. The dogs were shivering so badly... I had no idea how to help them. I wore all the clothes I had - and they were wet, too. After half an hour (I threw sticks so the boys would stay in motion), a man came by. I had seen him on the boat on Friday already. No idea were he lives on that island, no idea how he managed to drive around with his quad... When he saw me, he laughed and said that I must be cold. He opened his boathouse for me, so that we could find shelter until the ferry arrives. He went to eat lunch before going back to Kirjais, and he kindly invited me, too. But considering how wet and dirty I was (and I couldn't leave the dogs alone either), I refused. Hunger wasn't my problem number one after all. In the shelter, I tried to dry the dogs a bit. And I removed ticks, so many, many ticks! :-/ But we were all three freezing quit a lot. 

When the ferry boat finally arrived, I had no shame no more. ;-) I just removed the outer layer of my wet clothes and wondered around in my long underwear. I really didn't care anymore. All I wanted was to get dry and warm again. :-D
Plus I learned that some people of the island had seen my camp site on the weekend - so I wasn't all that alone as I had thought, and they might have already seen me in less than that wintery underwear... :-D And sometimes that's just the advantage of being a foreigner: people expect you to act differently/weirdly anyways - I simply fulfilled that expectation (plus being utterly helpless in the wild). You are welcome! ;-)

On our 5 hour trip back to Kirjais (I thought we'll never arrive...), people also told me that I wasn't the only victim of poor no labelling of the (non-existing) path from the harbour to the camping site. Last summer, another girl got lost, too, and she ended up on a big rock, high over the island and shouting for help so that someone would come and lead her the way. :-D Thankfully, it didn't get all that bad for me. ;-)

Long story short: I do recommend a trip to Björkö to everybody! It's definitely worth a visit!!! Just try to go there by sailing boat... ;-) Or then go visit Utö, Jurmo, Kökar, or Bengtskär - all beautiful islands, too, but a lot less wild. :-)