A Day on Ven.

It's been a few days since we lost our baby boy, times have been tough and being in the apartment just gives us constant reminders of how much we miss him. I haven't stepped in a puddle of water from him having a drink in what feels like forever.. and as much as it always shit me, it was the norm and now the norm is dry floors. It is wrong, I miss my boy. It was just so sudden that I am having a harder time to process it than I thought I would.. but I will get there eventually and in the meantime I just have to try and keep myself busy, which is where a trip to Ven comes in! [wiki link]

We got up nice and early and headed off with a cooler bag full of goodness. It 'only' took 2 trains, 1 bus and 1 ferry trip to get to the island and we arrived there just before lunchtime.

It was a pretty stellar day, the sun was shining bright and it was warm warm warm! First order of business once on the island was to walk up the hill to the bike place and rent a couple of bikes! We stood in the longest line ever and watched slowly as the bikes dwindled down down down.. we were hoping to a normal sized geared bike with a basket for our cooler bag.. what we got was a smaller ungeared bike with a bungee cord. I guess that will teach us for being all spontaneous like and not booking at least a few days ahead! Oh well, we got our bikes.. made some adjustments and off we rode into the sun...shine! and dirt roads!

It took Emma all of 2 minutes to perfect her stone torpedo firing as I felt a rock brush past my shin and crash loudly into my chain guard! Holy poo batcave! It was early in the ride and I was already wondering if I was going to survive!

Some points we had to actually get off the bike and walk up, I am not even sure in some sections that having an electric bike would have helped to get up! But it was all worth it for the views that you got! Example...

Actually all the views throughout the day were bloody stunning.. 

We couldn't help but smile and be happy looking out at the beauty as we were cycling by.. altho there were a few moments where I probably should have been watching the road so I could miss some rather gut wrenching bumps! Which was some seriously funny entertainment for Emma.. I can honestly say, if the shoe was on the other foot.. I would have laughed too! Oh wait.. I already was laughing!

I also couldn't quite help but think of Nemo and how much he would have loved to have been there too.. and how much he would have cried and cried to go into the water. We got to see a couple of pups go into the water as we sat and enjoyed our lunch.. homemade focaccia with a punnet of strawberries! served with a stunning view...

 

and even a little swan family! It was perfect.

We stopped by a church and graveyard...

a lighthouse...

and even a distillery...

Where we popped in to try their whisky. Emma and I raised our glasses to Nemo. Yes, that's right, folks.. even Emma had a whisky! Not a lot but she had some and she didn't hate it! The bartender was lovely and even gave Emma a couple of small squares of chocolate cake. I am not one for sweets with booze so I declined. It was a lovely little break before we headed off again..

At one point Emma was all like, "Jo look!" & so I was trying to work out what she was saying look for and looking far into the beauty! I ended up having to turn around and go back to her and this is what she was telling me to look at... [photo] All I could do was shake my head! For many reasons really!

She also tried to kill me at another point by braking VERY suddenly and I nearly rode right up her ass! All because she heard and saw a pheasant! Of course it didn't come out for a photo op, those things are totally camera shy! So if it's not bloody stone torpedoes then it is sudden braking! Hmmm, I am not convinced she wanted me to get home safely!

We made our way back to the bike place and returned the bikes, then headed to the ferry and took our place in the stand-by queue. We were in it all of 10mins before we were part of the chosen few who got to fill up the ferry! Score! We had some fanstastic entertainment on the ferry in the form of a little kid running back and forth! The entire time! It was impressive! He was a total cutie-pie!

It wasn't long before we were sitting in Starbucks in Malmö, having an ice cold frap while learning a fun-fact! We needed to cool the frak off! Then one last train ride home and we were in the comfort of our own place, checking out who had the silliest burn! I had a slight goggle face happening.. nothing like this tho! [photo] and also, my current slight goggleface has been slowly forming over the past week.. the weather has been that stunning here! Oh back to who had the silliest burn you say? Well.. that would be Emma.. she took it all the way home with the backs of her legs.. the knee-pits! and her shoulders, she did a really poor job of applying sunscreen on those.. you could actually see the patches where she got it! LOL Well done I say! Today however, it's already starting to colour nicely.. that damn beautiful Scandinavian skin!

We will go back to Ven one day, and stay over night and watch the sun setting.. we saw some lovely spots where we thought it would just look wonderful.. but then again, sunsets are pretty wonderful no matter where you are and they should always be enjoyed when given the chance. We also want to go and eat at one of the restaurants there.. some of the food sounded divine! But these things can't be done on a whim and need a little planning.. which we will surely do. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is in these parts. Some additional instagram photos from the day.. [lighthouse] [bluesky] [water tower]

Oh and today I also discovered that my scalp got burnt. I thought I was so good and not forgetting sunscreen and yet I completely bypass the fact that my head is pointing to the sun ALL day! Doh!