28 June 2012 – Heiligenhafen

54:22.66N

10:58.95E

The sun started to shine this afternoon!

Heilingenhafen is a nice holiday resort, with good facilities for living and cycling.  The marina is close to the centre of the town.  Beyond the head of the marina is a sluice that goes through to the inner harbour – a big lake with sailing and surfing capability, surrounded by blocks of holiday flats in pleasant grounds including a small golf course.  We cycled round the complex.  At the far end, overlooking the sea is a very telling sculpture that speaks to the typical weather here….

At the other end of town, long the eastern spit and looking towards the beach and Fehrman are some lovely old houses, mainly thatched, on the dunes. 

As in Norfolk, the dunes have been planted with marram grass to stop the erosion; but also with wild roses, mostly magenta but some white and pale pink.  There are the usual beach facilities – lots of strandkorbel for protection against the weather and a hunde-strande for the dogs.  The cycle routes are separate from the car routes.  It’s good!

It’s quiet tonight as Germany are playing Italy in the semi-finals of the European Cup.  The whole country is fussball-crazy: there are special football-shaped rolls in the football – themed supermarket ( the checkouts have a grass banner with “Finale” on;)  german flags and rosettes everywhere; and young men draped in the national flag.  When I last looked Germany was trailing Italy 0-2 after 50 minutes. Will life continue tomorrow?

The plan is to go further east, through the Fehrman bridge (clearance 23m; our mast 19m) towards Travemunde and Lubeck.