It was a trip to Finland again this weekend. But close, Holmsund's closest Finnish archipelago, the Valsörarna. Since the holiday is over for both of us, it felt like a luxurious bonus holiday. On Friday evening, we were almost alone on the island and could enjoy, among other things, freshly picked raspberries, a nice leg stretcher along the island's only hiking trail, this year's surströmming and a fantastic sunset.
Valsörarna is a nature reserve and world heritage. There are no permanent residences here, but many cozy fishing cabins and grazing sheep owned by Björkö residents, a red and neighboring lighthouse designed at the end of the 19th century by the same architectural firm that constructed the Eiffel Tower, and a lot of stone cairns with bone knots after Russian soldiers who at the end of the winter war froze or starved to death here. In 1809, the Russian army marched from Valsörarna over the spring ice to Sweden to conquer Umeå. They succeeded, but shortly afterwards returned back across the ice to Finland.
Valsörarna is 25 minutes from Holmsund. From the mooring lighthouse Väktaren, the course is 120 degrees straight across Kvarken into Valsörarna harbor in the strait between Äbbskäret and Norderstören. The entrance from the west to the guest jetty is marked with a minimum depth of 3 metres. The guest pier is located inside a strong breakwater.
The islands are nature conservation area and the opportunities to move freely are limited. It is only permitted to move along the main path that runs between the guest jetty, the lighthouse and Båthusviken, and a general disembarkation ban except for the guest jetty applies from 1 May to 31 July.
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