The Kayakomat

We spent a week on the outskirts of Stockholm, staying near the inner archipelago on lake Mälaren. We saw lots of boats go by, and were wondering if we could hire a boat. Then when walking through a nearby park we happened across a wonderful thing: the Kayakomat! This is a unmanned unit that has a bunch of single and two person kayaks and some SUPs in it, and you can book them via the internet. The boats come with all you need: oars, life-vests etc, and are quite reasonably priced.

So we had a couple of ventures out on the lake to explore. Mälaren is quite large, so we saw a tiny, tiny bit of it, but being an archipelago this still let us explore a few of the nearby islands in a way we’d not otherwise have been able to do.

A photo taken from the back seat of a two person kayak, looking at Laura piloting up front. Above us a blue sky with a few clouds, below is blue water of lake Mälaren, and either side are forests of pine trees.
A photo of a small wooden structure in a wooded park area that houses a bunch of kayaks and stand up paddel boards. On the side is a sign that says 'kayakomat' with instructions on now to rent the kayaks.
A photo looking along lake Mälaren, with just a couple of oar ends to tell you that we're in the kayak when we took the photo.
A photo taken by Laura from the front of the Kayak looking back so you can see her smiling and me in the back holding my oar, and behind me is the water of the lake, the forest of one of the islands in the lake (Fågelön) and the blue sky.
A photo from the back of the kayak again, looking forward to Laura in the front and beyond along the lake. This time though there is a rock cliff to our right rather than the forest trees in other shots.