Summer 2023 is drawing to a close. What began with a heatwave turned into the coldest, wettest summer for years. From the day we returned from the continent you can count the number of sunny days on the fingers of one hand.

As a present to a couple of 30 year olds we planned a trip to the islands of Koster 200 kilometers north of Göteborg. We rented a house in Strömstad, on the mainland, all 6 adult humans and 2 dogs. Strömstad guest harbour was packed with Norwegian boat tourists making the most of the next to worthless Swedish krona.

The ferry to Koster takes about an hour and leaves from the center of Strömstad at 10 am. The weather is fantastic and the queue grows quickly. Norwegians mainly. The ferry is extremely crowded. There is a special dog cabin on the upper deck. The benefit of having a dog is that people without dogs don’t seem to enjoy the smell.

It’s a perfect day, a final burst of summer. Warm, no wind, and a clear blue sky. We disembark on the north island and wander up to the lighthouses to take in the views. From here you can see Norway to the northwest and Strömstad to the East. To south west is the Skagerack, the North Sea, and the Atlantic.

We head back to the harbour and take the cable ferry to the south island to look for somewhere to have lunch. The perfect weather and the hordes of vacationing Norwegians seems to have caught the island completely off guard. The restaurants are short-staffed and stressed and it’s impossible to even get a sandwich. The warm and sunny day keeps our spirits high and we forgive and forget, even when we don’t succeed in buying an icecrream.

Despite the lack of service the islands are a fantastic experience. We will come back, we’ve only seen a small part of them and there is a lot left to explore. We will be back. Next time we will bring a packed lunch.