Bobbing to the Baltic

"Bobbing to the Baltic" is the story of my cruise from Edinburgh to the Russian border aboard my 27ft yacht 'Zophiel'.In May 2012 we left the Forth to cross the North Sea. Though we originally intended to go to Denmark, a combination of wimpiness and extraordinarily poor navigation took us to Holland instead.From there I sailed to the Baltic, via Germany, then to the eastern Baltic, via Denmark and Sweden's Gøta Canal. We cruised the million islands of the Swedish and Finnish archipelagos as far as the Russian border. We then returned, via Estonia and the east coast of Sweden, as far as the NetherlandsIn 2003 Griff Rhys Jones published a book giving an account of a trip to the Baltic with the title "To the Baltic with Bob - An Epic Misadventure". 'Bobbing to the Baltic' is the story of a trip along a very similar route in a much smaller boat. It is better in four important respects. Firstly there's more pictures. Secondly I actually enjoyed the trip, for the most part. Griff Rhys Jones paints an altogether more gloomy and miserable picture of the Baltic. I hope I make it sound more like what it is - an idyllic summer cruising ground of infinite appeal. Thirdly, my book is cheaper. Fourthly, I need the money much more than Griff Rhys Jones does. After all, someone's got to pay for me to swan around sailing all summer.On the other hand I make absolutely no claims as to literary merit or 'epicness'. This is not a tale of conquering the savage seas against all odds. Neither does it claim to be a pilot book or sailing directions. It's just the story of a holiday in a wee boat that went a bit further than most people manage in a summer cruise. I hope it gives you a flavour of just what a fabulous summer cruising ground the Baltic isThis is the fourth in a series of cruising 'logs' about Zophiel's voyages. "Skagerrak and Back" is the tale of a North Sea circuit, "Floating Low to Lofoten" describes a journey to Arctic Norway and "A Gigantic Whinge on the Celtic Fringe" is the story of our circumnavigation of Ireland.Recently some of the people who have been slandered in these tales have suggested that they should be used for kindling. I've taken these kind words to heart, so here they are formatted for your Kindle.This volume contains nearly 350 colour images. If you're struggling with grainy black and white on a 'Kindle', there's more sailing tales and the full set of colour photos from this volume at: "Travels with my Rant"Most of my writing is about my travels. Mostly very slow travels. For some years now I've been plodding round the seas of northern Europe aboard a small sailing boat. To date I've published five accounts of these trips. In 2023 I published two books about travels on other people's boats, 'Sail's Pace' and 'Nautical Tortoise'. These are volumes 1 and 2 of what will eventually be a three volume series entitled 'A to Oz'. They describe my infinitesimally slow sail from Arctic Norway to French Polynesia.For years I poked around in some of the more obscure parts of some developing countries, hitch-hiking and travelling by boat, train and bus. Some of the buses were slower than my boat. The record was 12 hours to go 11 miles in the Shan State in northern Burma. I'll soon be publishing two volumes entitled "Travels with my Rant" and "The Front of Beyond". These will include tales about hopping across dodgy borders in places like East Timor and Nicaragua.Whilst travel may broaden some minds and narrow others, travelling slowly and alone changes your perspective on the world around you. I like to think it hones the senses and heightens the critical faculties. Others have agreed that yes, it does make me rant on and on about everything.My travel writings are not gripping tales of derring-do and one man's survival in a savage wilderness against all the odds. I am, in fact, something of a wimp. Neither do they consciously seek to maintain the mythology and exoticism of travel to far flung parts