Belisama out of the recovery room after surgery

 After arriving in Sables d'Olonne in May 2021 on our way to the Mediterranean we had to make a stop-over for Belisama to undergo a surgery involving both hip replacements following a hit on a rock a few years ago in northern Sweden that resulted in some deformation in the aluminium hull that we did not noticed. Indeed, we had hit a rock in Sweden, but did not realise how much it deformed the hull as the behaviour of Belisama was not affected. Below is the picture of Belisama being lifted off water last summer. The angle between the two rudders was not resulting from having bent one of the shaft but rather from having hit the shape of the aluminium hull around the portside rudder. 

As a result we had to terminate our conveying between Stockholm to the Mediterranean in Sables d'Olonne for surgery...

Belisama in the operation room... 16 November

On 4th June 2021, as Belisama was lifted in Sables d'Olonne for the yearly check-up, I had asked Thierry Leprince from Alubat to have a look at the rudder as we had struck a rock two years before, without any noticeable steering consequences (see the post). But in fact the hull had been slightly pushed-up and this required to change the rudder posts on both sides, kind of a hip surgery...

Belisama had been in Alubat shipyard since early June. By mid-July, the insurance experts had reviewed the problem and agreed to cover the damage. Too late though for having it done before the annual summer Alubat break in August. As Belisama is now wintering in Sables d'Olonne, the time pressure for completing the repair became lower and the work just started recently.

The first step of the surgery was to open the body and remove both hips (rudder pods)...

Yellow foot chanterelles in November! 14 November

Sunday 14 November, sunny cold morning, 4°C, ideal weather to get to the forest and check what mushrooms could still be found there... As for the place, we chose the island of Selaön, in the lake Mälaren, around 100 km from Stockholm. For picking the spot, we relied on a Swedish friend telling us to go on the southern shore of the Lake Mälaren for picking mushrooms. The reason is that Lake Mälaren is what remains from the glacier lake located on the south of the ice cape on the North pole during prehistoric times, 12,000 years ago. The good soil that had accumulated over the years rose over the sea/lake level in relation with the rising of Sweden after the melting of the ice cap. On that basis, we checked on Google Earth which area could be good. Criteria were: 1) presence for a forested area, 2) on a flat ground, 3) far from villages and habitations. These proved to be very good criteria as you can see in the picture below, gathered in 2 hours.

4 kg of yellowfoot chanterelles!

What to do on All Saints Day in Sweden, on 6 November 2021?

All Saints Day in Sweden is always the first Saturday of November, therefore not related to the 1st of November, the religious date. By then, the days are very short, the temperature around 5°, the mushroom season finished, and the snow not arrived yet! However, on All Saints Day in Sweden, you can be sure that every church and chapel will be opened for the day. And only in the Stockholm area, you can find dozen of churches dating from the Middle-Ages, and decorated with fantastic frescoes. Therefore, we rushed to visit three of them...

Jonas and the whale, Danmark church

We visited Almunge, Tensta, Danmark and Odensala church...

Glada Hudik, Hälsingland, 30 October-1 December

Why to visit Glada Hudiksvall (happy Hudik) during the all Saints weekend? Apparently, there is not much to do around there. But upon advice from a friend, we decided to go and explore the area, and in particular visit the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, a Unesco World Heritage Site. But we did not realise hat they would be closed in Winter...

Habour warehouses along Magasingatan, the iconic view of Hudiksvall

A weekend through the solar system, 30 October-1 November

What to do in a dull cloudy cold first weekend of November? We decided to go to Hudiksval, the main city in Hälsingland province, 300 km from home a place that we visited twice with Belisama, but never ventured in the countryside. While searching for spots to visit, we realised that several planets of the Sweden Solar System (SSS) are located along the way. 

Pluto and Charon, Delsbo, 12 cm diameter, 300 km from Globen

The Sweden Solar System is the largest representation of the solar system planets in the world, centered around Globen in Stockholm, representing the Sun and its corona...

Back to autumn in Sweden, October 2021

Since the last post, a lot of miles have been travelled, from Iceland through Croatia, back to Sweden at the beginning of October. And as you should know by now, Sweden in October is the place to collect mushrooms! So we did, and it has proved to be an exceptional year, just like in France it seems!

The yellow foot chanterelle, alias Craterellus tubaeformis