The search to experience islands on the Stockholm archipelago continues. Today, my friend and I went to Rånö (Rån island). She wanted to camp and I convinced her to choose Rånö. There is a dedicated camping spot on the island plus there is a water pump.
We took the 10.25am Waxholm boat from Nynäshamn (south of Stockholm) to Rånö, and the fare is 104kr for zone 3. The boat ride took us less than 1 hour. There were so many passengers on the boat and most of them got off at Nattarö, the first stop. This boat is smaller than the boat I took to Finnhamn last month. Lesser seats on the bottom deck and there is a small room on the upper deck but it gets very noisy very fast when people start talking as it is a closed room. There is a small cafe on the boat and the price is the same as on the boat to Finnhamn. There is one toilet on the boat.
It was a cloudy day. It was about 16 degrees and I know that I was going to be very cold, so I had my gloves on me. I should have brought thicker gloves though. What a huge difference from when I was in Finnhamn and Ingmarsö at the end of July where it was very hot.
We arrived at Rånö at 11.15am. There were only 4 persons that disembarked from the boat. Us and two other girls. I suspected that there were not many tourists on the island as the sole restaurant on the island has already closed for the season. The grocery store is opened but for two hours only on Wednesdays and weekends after the summer season.
The camping place is a 1km walk northwards from the jetty. It is an easy trail to get to the spot. The sign is clear and one cannot get lost. The island is smaller than both Finnhamn and Ingmarsö.
The designated camping place. Unlike Finnhamn where it costs SEK120 per tent per 24 hours to camp, it is free here and maximum number of nights to stay here is 2 nights.
There was no one in sight. So, we had the opportunity to choose wherever we want to set up our tent. My friend brought her tent and we set it up. Then, we had our own-brought lunch on the rocks in front of the tent, with a view of the waters. I had sausage and vegetable pasta that I made the day before. It can be eaten cold so it is a perfect camping food.
After lunch, we took a walk on the Stockholm Archipelago Trail (SAT) that is clearly marked by the yellow, white and blue tapes along the way. We had our tea break along the way too with a view of the waters.
We walked the upper half of the island and that took us about 2.5 hours. Then, we headed back to our tent to prepare for dinner. My friend brought her camping stove and we cooked potato, lentil and carrot soup. I brought hard-boiled eggs so the only thing we needed to do was to peel the shell off the eggs. We had bread with us too. It was delicious with hot soup and bread to dip in it.
After dinner, we were back in the tent. We chatted and drew each other. The next day, we cooked the same soup for breakfast. It rained while we were having breakfast. We cleared up under the rain. When we got back into the tent, the rain stopped for a while and rained again. When it drizzled, we started to pack and tried to dry off the tent as much as we can. We took the 12.37pm boat back to Nynäshamn arriving at 1.30pm. Also 104kr for the return boat ticket.
It was a lovely short weekend to camp at a new spot. I got to know my friend a little more and I got to enjoy peace and quiet in the nature.
