My kayaking adventure off Sweden: If Henry Moore had designed an archipelago, this would be it

Our writer and his son head off to explore a Swedish archipelago by kayak – but the World Cup and worsening weather intervene

I think of it as the “adventure moment”: when the guide says goodbye; when the boat unexpectedly pulls up to the riverbank and the captain tells you to get off; when no one speaks any language you understand; when you have to call on your own resources. The adventure starts when there is no one to tell you what to do next.

At the Kajaktiv Tjörn kayak centre on the Swedish island of Koön, my son Niall and I are about to have an adventure moment. We listen to the advice from the owner, Patrick. There is a bit about deteriorating weather three days ahead. I’m more concerned about where to wild camp tonight and getting a route marked on the map. Ahead lies the Bohuslän archipelago, a vast pointillist masterpiece in smooth granite: thousands of islets and outcrops along the west coast of Sweden, some the size of an overturned kayak, others large enough to land a rescue helicopter.