Into the South Funen Archipelago

Late last night the little cafe on the quayside was busy because the sailing club was having an evening race (they finished with their nav lights on) and the veteran car club gathered including a Skoda Octavia, an American muscle car, a 2CV, and a gorgeous, open-top, flame-red Jaguar XK140 - Lesley's favourite car.

We woke to the same grey skies and patter of rain. Aargh. The little cafe (it's on the way to the toilets) was busy again with little old fishermen and their retiree mates on mobility scooters.

While Nic did some work on reviewing a document for the NOS, Lesley had another swing through the shops netting some books and ... a small table from a shop that appeared to be selling its fittings. The table cost £3 and is just what we need in our living room!

Around 11 the rain eased so we set off for one our shortest passages ever, a mere 10 miles to Soby at the northern end of the much-lauded island of Aero. We could have sailed slowly across after negotiating the narrow channel out of Faaborg and dodging the ferry ... but the rain came on again and it's cold so we opted for the quicker passage by engine. 2 hours later we were snuggled up alongside a pontoon on Soby harbour (pic). Suddenly the Harbours are all half empty, which suits us.

After lunch on board we walked around the tiny town with its two shops, a restaurant and a pizza house. Much more interesting were the numerous houses that appear to have permanent garage sales (pic) with honesty boxes or numbers for 'mobile pay' - all very cheap and we saw a few things that are quite collectable. We bought one thing, a blue glass vase. A couple of buns from the bakery and back to the boat for tea. Finally the sun is out so everything is hung around the cockpit to dry.