Stinteck, near Busum, Germany

 Am typing this lying on my bed mat in the shade of a hedge by our tent.  The football started a little while ago - here was a cheer from the nearby caravans so presumed Germany must have scored - just checked it out on Google - and yes, it's 1:0 to Germany - the horns have just gone again all over the campsite and cheers galore - so now presume it's 2:0 to Germany ... (just checked out Google and yes, that' the score)  We're keeping a very low profile here...

The weather is fabulous today - not only is the sun cracking the flags, but the wind is also warm as well - cycled in T shirts for the first time for ages today.
No noises from the campsite to indicate it - but just seen on the up to the minute news of the game that England have scored - so 2:1 now....   Very subdued though compared to how I would imagine it would be on an English campsite with the blokes all watching the match???
It's now 8.30pm - taken me this long to upload the photos included in this part of the blog - I knew about each goal to Germany a minute or two before it was reported on the webpage I was keeping an eye on - 4:1 - the biggest defeat England has had in a World Cup match ever..... - the campsite came back to life once the game was over.  Roger has made tea for us, plus a couple of brews as well in the meantime, I've finished off with the last of the Hobbit biscuits (Hobnobs in UK).  I'm well and truly in the shade now - almost time for the fleece to go on.
Back to Wilhelmshaven, where we stayed overnight in a hotel so we could catch ferry number 14; Wilhelmshaven to Heligoland which left at 9 am.  The view from bed in the morning was tranquil, it looked as though the weather would be perfect for the trip.

Got to the ticket office for just after 8, when it opened.  The lady in the office spoke no English, so not the easiest of conversations for either party - didn't appear to have had bicycles on the boat before, and we had to explain in pigeon German what our plan was - and eventually when the computer decided to behave itself she found a price for a bicycle to go on the ferry - but only charged us for one bike, which we discovered when she gave us the tickets with a final look of relief (the printer wouldn't play ball for her either) - so when she looked up a minute later and saw us still there it must have been hard to smile at us!!- more computer and printer niggles, but finally we had our ticket - to give to the man waiting on the gangplank a few feet away.  Our bikes were cycled up the gangplank by a couple of blokes, and we were asked if it was Cuxhaven or Busum we were going to be sailing to in the evening from the island.  Until that point hadn't realised that Busum was an option - didn't even know where it was - or if it was on the route.  Well, in retrospect Busum is on the route - that is where we have go to today - but it would have been a gigantic cheat, missing a large portion of the German cycle route out - can live with the day or two's cycling we've missed by going to Cuxhaven from Wilhelmshaven, but not with going to Busum.
Didn't think too much about the question of where we were going to in the evening until later on in the day.
The boat left on time, after given a very loud, and very long blast on the horn minutes before - telling any stragglers to get a move on perhaps,and also no doubt warning any craft outside the harbour that it would be on its way out very soon, so get out of the way.
Not a huge number of passengers on board, but we managed to pick the wrong side to sit on (and we thought about it before we sat there) so were in the cold shadow of the upper deck for the first 3/4 of a hour - finally a few rays of sunshine found our heads - then the captain  changed direction ever so slightly - and back in the cool again.  Finally went on the upper deck,the sides of the deck covered in so no view from the seats but at least sheltered from the wind - serenaded for some of the trip by a bloke on his accordian for some of the journey - with a German flavour to his choices until 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor'.  Couldn't work out if he was a passenger or was provided by the boat - he came round to all the passengers to have a chat - was he after a tip?

It might look a beautiful blue sky but it was a cold wind blowing - sending most of the passengers down below.

I closed my eyes listening to the ipod, and enjoying the sun on my face, wrapped up in my windproof - may even have been zzzing on the quiet when suddenly realised it was much colder and  - was that a drop of rain on my face?  Opened my eyes to find that we were in a dense sea mist - couldn't believe it - were not going to see very much of Heligoland at this rate....

After 15 minutes of this and no sign of the mist disappearing we gave up and went to go inside - but found our way to the 'car deck' - and where cars would normally be they had converted it into a play area for kids - palm trees and a large sand pit, plus provided some of the local double wind protected sun seats - it was so lovely and warm hereat the back of the boat - no wind at all, and somehow the sun was finding its way through the mist, so as no one seemed to be interested in making you pay to use them (I'm sure that in theory you should do) we made the most of them for the rest of the trip - despite the noise of the engines it was a great place to be - wish we'd found it earlier.

I well and truly fell asleep this time, so Roger extracted his revenge for all the photos I have had of him in similar circumstances and took a photo of me - when I commented that I looked like a beached whale he agreed (!!!) and said that's why he'd taken it - who needs friends with a husband like that .....

I hasten to add that I am deliberately hoisting my shorts up to try and make the tide line a little less obvious on my legs!! It's just unfortunate that it makes it look as though I've got stockings on that are at half mast!!
The tannoy started up and I think the guy was saying (in German) that we should be able to see the island of Heligoland now -but obviously we couldn't because of the mist - got a laugh from the rest of the passengers anyway and they all started peering over the side of the boat - as you can see below,there's not much to see. The island is there, very close but completely hidden to view by the mist.

As we got close to the island the mist just seemed to up and go - and there it was- the island in all its glory.

Suddenly realised that the boat had stopped and was dropping the anchor out in the bay -and that there were a steady stream of small motor launches coming out to meet the boat to transfer the passengers to the island. First we knew about this - how the heck were we going to get the bikes off the boat into the launch, and then get them transferred onto a different boat to take us to Cuxhaven in the late afternoon - when no one speaks any English??

Even more of a poser when you get to the door to leave the boat to get on to the tender!!  Luckily the lass on the right of the photo at the door was the member of staff we'd spoken to the night before who had said 'it will be no problem to transfer your bikes to another boat' - or words to that effect.  At least she knew what we were wanting - and waved our concerns aside when we tentatively asked about what we did with the bikes - 'You do Nothing - Just enjoy yourselves' - and get in the launch asap.....   So off we went, wondering whether we would see the bikes again ....

The island was heaving - four day tripping boats arrive within 15 minutes of each other -daily throughout the summer, and leave within 15 minutes of each other in the afternoon - so at about half past 12 the sleepy island is rudely awakened and is a heaving mass of tourists until about 3 pm when they all start making their way back to the harbour to stand in the queue to get the launch back to the boat to go home.  People stay here though as well, there is a row of similar looking hotels near the harbour.  If you were sensible you'd stay indoors or have a nap between 12 and 4pm, unless you have a grockle shop full of tax free goods, or selling food, drinks and ice creams.  Reminded us at different times of lots of different islands we have visited - Alderney, Jersey, Sark, Gibraltar etc  with a hint of Charlottetown in Labrador thrown in.

A mix of tackyness and tranquility all within half a square mile of land.  The area immediately around the harbour was flat with modern sops and amenity type buildings.  I loved the bright colours and wooden clad buildings - reminded us this time of St Johns in Newfoundland.  Found where we had to buy our ferry tickets back to Cuxhaven -again the lady in the office didn't really speak much English and seemed surprised by our tale of our bikes - and how they would be transferred between the two boats - no price for the cost of transporting a bike on her computer, so said we would have to pay for them on the boat.  Nothing more that we could do now - Roger had great faith in the female crew member who spoke the best English - so we might as well do as we were told by her, and enjoy ourselves.

This flat area ends abruptly at 200 foot sheer cliffs, with the houses of the island being built up on the plateau above.  There was a lift of some sort to take you up and down (you had to pay) or steps up to the top - as Roger put it - 'For Cheapskates' - so guess which way we went... - lovely views on the way up though.  Felt like hard work on the leg muscles -completely different set of muscles in use to cycling - going to be fun getting back into any sort of fitness when I get back to start running again.

From the top could see the small sandy island near by, Dune that used to be attached to the main island, and also be a white cliff (see last entry in blog) - we'd seen the small ferry boat in the harbour that runs between the two islands - the runway strip and the beach are situated on Dune.

Despite all the tourists that had descended on the island the streets looked very quiet in the small town.  You can see why there are no bikes here - there isn't really anywhere to use them.  There are some electric utility vehicles - you can just see one in the photo below - they have a 'secret' back way up to the top of the plateau.

Found the church - not too difficult with a spire standing proudly over the houses - a very modern looking one - but everything here had to be rebuilt after the islanders were allowed back on in 1952. I'd read about the plaque to Queen Victoria in it, which must have been one of the few things that survived all the bombing.

Was in English, which is a pleasant change given that nothing else is on the island. Can make out about two thirds of the words -was given by someone who came from Heligoland, when it was 'ruled' by England, and when Victoria had been on the thrown 69 years.  Don't suppose many people stop to take much notice of this plaque.

Some lovely views again from the plateau - the red cliffs surround the plateau in a v shape from the flat harbour area.  There is a paved walkway that goes all the way round - and is where most of the tourists migrate to at some point in their time on the island.    

I'd read that the island is supposed to be virtually allergen free -but not sure how this can be as plenty of flowers  - both in the gardens and growing wild. And then there is all that duty free perfume to assail your nostrils in the shops.....

The walkway is a little like the yellow brick road - except it is q pinky red colour. The cliffs curve in and out, and seem to be made of a very soft sort of rock that looks as though it must erode very easily - but must be tougher thn t looksto have survived this long in the midst of the NorthSea, and all that bombing by the Brits.

The sea birds nesting on the cliffs were spectacular - would be great to spend some time on the island so that you had the time to observe them properly - and away from all those tourists.  At the far tip of the island, furthest away from the harbour area was a sea stack - we dubbed it The Old Man Of Heligoland.

The land in this area of the island is very undulating as a result of all those bombs (see previous blog for details)

and one indentation even has a sign saying this was produced by 5m000 kg of bomb blast..  You can see that despite over 1,000 tons of bombs being used by the Royal Navy in one day - you weren't  going to get rid of the island this way. 

The sea mist was long gone now, and the sun was beating down.  In the winter the temperature can be up to 10 degrees armer than Hamburg as it misses the cold winds from Russia, and never gets below -5 degrees.  Today the sheep were looking for as much shade as they could - and as we've seen along the way on the dykes, a favorite spot is under the wooden bench seats - or huddled together to give each other shade.  They stand looking stupified and panting like dogs in hot weather - the ones that have been sheared fair better than the younger ones that still have thick fleeces on.  

Back down the steps to the harbour area now - couldn't resist a photo of these stuffed cats and kittens - well presented to catch the shoppers eye.  

Had found someone in the information post that spoke some English and asked her where the signpost that pointed the way to Zanzibar was - she didn't know at first but some colleagues were able to tell her,  so we went to find it.  Although the four tourist boats have to anchor in the bay and use the launches to bring people ashore (been like this since tourism started in the early 1800's- due to the shallow sandy water around the island) there is a deeper water smaller harbour as well where goods re brought to the island. The signpost was hidden up a small street near here,and has the names of lots of different small islands and the distance and direction of them from Heligoland.

Zanzibar is 7335 miles away - and also Robinson Crusoe Island, Pitcairn, Tasania etc are all mentioned.

Just time for n ice cream and then walk back to the harbour again - the launches start taking you back to the boats an hour before they are due to leave - we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time, just in case of any problems with the bikes...    

Already a large queue for the boat to Cuxhaven - and didn't they squash as many as possible on board. We were relieved when we got on the new boat, on asking about the bikes to be told that no problem, they were on board.  Didn't get to see them so had to take it on trust that they were actually there.  No idea how the transfer took place - but would have been done directly from boat to boat using the launches.

On the way home we were very aware of the shallow and sandy nature of the sea by the swirls of sand all around the  boat as she moved through the water.

Got off the boat at Cuxhaven - told that the bikes were at the front of the boat for collection - got there just in time to see that they were being winched off - no doubt this is the method used in the bay at Heligoland as well.  Amazingly everything survived intact and in the right place - we'd taken no special precautions as we had no idea this was going to happen - we thought we'd be pushing them on and off the gangway!! 

So survived the day, with bikes and baggage intact - now a 10 mile cycle to the campsite - made worse because of a deviation due to the erecting of lots of new wind turbines along the side of the river bank. Celebrated our enjoyable day out with a pizza at the restaurant just by our tent, up on the dyke bank with great views over the river.   Cuxhaven is on the southern mouth of the Elbe river that goes inland to the port of Hamburg.  It's very wide, and there is no bridge across to the north side until you get to Hamburg at least - there's a tunnel under the river at least there - but our map doesn't go far enough to tell me where the first bridge actually is.  Busum, where we are now is on the opposite side of the river moth, just round the corner on the North Sea.   There used to be a ferry across the mouth of the river, but no longer   The next crossing point is a ferry about half way up the river towards Hamburg, which we decided to make for - stopping this side of the river at a campsite I'd found on a local cycle map I'd bought as we were deviating from the route in the book we have.  Only when we got there no campsite - looked again at the map and what I'd thought was a green tent symbol was actually a green horses head when you looked at it carefully!!  So had to cross over the river on the ferry to the north side and cycle 10 miles in the wrong direction, towards Hamburg instead to find a campsite.  Lots of large container ships making their way up the river - Roger and I took the Harwich to Hamburg ferry in 2000 (doesn't run anymore) on a 2 week Landcruiser and roof tent trip to the Ukraine, and I still remember how enjoyable it was cruising down the river Elbe in fantastic weather.

The houses are very different now  - on the south side of the river an example is:

We were really lucky for a change with the ferry across the river - we arrived about 4pm on a Friday afternoon of what promised to be a great weekend weather wise to find an enormously long queue of traffic waiting to go across on the ferry. -The great thing about being on the cycles is that you just go straight to the front of the queue - and just as we got there the last of the vehicles on the ferry that had arrived came off and we were waved forward onto the ferry - I was the first to board.  There are 4 ferries working the crossing - the river is still very wide here, but any more ferry boats would make it no faster as there is just enough time to empty and fill one and set off, just as the next ferry is coming in to land.
Ferry No 14 - Wilhelmshaven to Heligoland
Ferry No. 15 - Heligoland to Cuxhaven
Ferry No16 - Across the Elbe river, Wishhafen to Glickstadt

Sorry, I'm going to have to go to bed- I'm sat on a chair outside the laundry area peering at the keyboard by the dim outside light, plugged into the socket inside for the washing machine - but can't get the wifi indoors so thats why I'm outside.  My laptop ran out of power earlier on. Getting very odd looks as folk come to the loos - its after midnight now - and they want to know what I'm doing but don't speak English ....  
Will edit this and finish it off tomorrow morning. 


Back again now - it's Monday morning, 7.30am German time and the heat of the sun on the tent woke me up.  Opened up the doors to let a breeze through  - the wind is back at the moment - no doubt will be a head wind as well just to cheer Roger up - he really hates a head wind with a vengeance. 


The ferry across the Elbe brought us to the north side of the river, on the outskirts of the town of Gluckstadt, probably about  30 miles or so from the outskirts of Hamburg - which I was very glad to give a miss to.  The queue was equally as long on the other side with vehicles waiting to cross.  Had to either cycle another 20 odd miles into a strong wind to a campsite if  we went towards the mouth of the river, or just under 10 miles with the wind behind us if we went towards the Hamburg direction - decided on the latter option, which was good asmeant we got to see the old town and harbour of Gluckstadt.

We've thought about a scoring system for campsites that we've stayed at - marks would go for them being available at the right place, so this campsite would have scored a minus mark probably for being so far off route, but would have scored well for many other things - full marks for closeness to the cycle path,free showers,  a small selection of cold ice-creams and beer available to buy and the cheapest we've paid for quite a while - just under 9 Euros.  Loss of points though for no toilet paper in the loos - we carry a half roll around with us for such times, which we replenish as required from a toilet block of a campsite.  Next morning, back in the cycle path - yet again Crap Alley - and there are plenty of much worse stretches than this.....

The sheep crap dries really hard in the sun and can really jolt the bike if you cycle over a large lump, so you have to watch out.  I can't believe how much there is - all over the grass of the dykes as well - and you'll find people picnicing and sunbathing in the midst of it all. 

The houses have changed once again now we are north of the river.  Lots of thickly thatched roofs, lots of lovely houses to look at as we cycle past.

Followed the river down stream - a nature reserve along the banks.

... via our daily trip to the supermarket - double lot today as Sunday tomorrow.    

Lover this weather vane in some ones garden.

Ferry No. 17 - across the Kiel Canal, at Brunsbuttel - the canal starts at a lock off the Elbe river estuary here - again we just arrived in time to be ushered first onto the ferry.  This canal is reputed to be the busiest stretch of manmade water - with something like 43,000 ship movements a year, not including small craft.  It cuts about 250 miles of water out and an often stormy trip around the Jutland Peninsula - and after being widened in the early 1900s made it easy for war ships to pass from the Baltic areas to the North Sea.  A free ferry this one

Had just finished and tried to publish this edited blog -but had dropped the internet connection and lost what I had written for the end of the blog - have had enough so will re write it next time if I've the will power to do it then -but not at the moment.... 

Hotel Seestern, Wilhelmshaven

Sorry for the abrupt departure from  my blog last night - we had to buy prepaid 1 hr tickets for the internet - bought two of them for 2 Euros each.  Amazing how long it all takes - especially downloading the photos etc. Monday night was the shortest night of the year, and one of the photos in the last blog was taken at midnight when I went to the loo - I got waylaid listening to the end of an audio book on the ipod - Mr Darcy, the Vampyre - the book starts just after the wedding of the two Bennett sisters has taken place and Darcy takes Elizabeth, not to The Lake District as planned, but to Paris - not long after the French Revolution and Napoleon.  From here they go to the Alps and then onto Italy - with many a twist to the tale.  Darcy had   Vampyre (sic) 150 years or so before when Lady Catherine de Burgh bit him and drew blood from his neck - at his request, because his parents had both died of the plague and his young sister Georgiana was also not far off dying from it as well.  Lady Catherine said she could save her buy biting her and making her into a Vampyre - and that she would never age from then on - so Darcy opted to join her as he had promise his mother to look after her!!!  Consequently this leads to complications when he marries Elizabeth - needless to say it all works out OK in the end.  An amusing tale - or I thought so anyway....  Anyway, it was very light for midnight, but to quote a friend, Bryan Wilson, from now on 'the nights are drawing in' ...

Last night after I'd finished the log, the weather had really bucked up - it had gradually improved all day, but the wind finally died down almost completely by late evening, and it was a really fantastic evening.  Went for a cycle on the bikes (minus the panniers, what a treat) down to the beach - you have to pay during the day to go down to it- but is included as part of the campsite fee(20 Euros to camp for the night so an expensive site), but as you can see from the photo below, even though it was after 9 pm the sun was still out.

There were huge numbers of rabbits grazing on the protected grasslands that form a barrier between the campsite and the beach area.  As we've been cycling along the dykes we've seen many hundreds of the orange beaked black and white Oyster Catchers on the grassy banks over the last few weeks.  They are really comical to watch at times - but my camera is not good enough or quick enough to get a decent picture of them - as soon as I stop the bike they fly off, which is such a shame as they allow you to cycle past them at very close quarters.  Another morning a gang of ? swifts or skylarks played a great game with us and showing off their aeronautical skills as they joined us for a couple of kilometers - playing chicken as they flew and swooped as close as they dared in front of us as we cycled along.

This photo of the wind generator is taken at nearly 10 pm- a reminder to me of the huge numbers we have seen in both the Netherlands and especially in Germany - at one time I could count 66 of them without trying as we overlooked a windfarm in the distance.  Roger tells me they are massively subsidised to make the electricity they produce cost effective to the investor.  Also there has been massive amounts of money put into encouraging people to have photo electric panels and solar panels on their roofs - lots of the German farmhouses have their large roof covered in them - they must get massive grants to be able to afford to do this and to make it anywhere near cost effective in the long run.

Couldn't resist this photo - taken from the tent, at 11 pm or so when we got back from our cycle ride.

The sky was amazing-Roger called the the clouds mares tails - a lovely evening - only about the second of the trip when it has been pleasant enough to tempt us out and about from the campsite after tea.  Can't believe how great it is without the wind.....

This morning - well what a wonderful one it was.  First time we've had both ends of the tent open, letting the sun stream into the tent. Roger said it was amazingly misty and dewey at 5am - it was a really cold night as the clouds had finally cleared causing the heavy dew.  The photo shows me enjoying my morning cuppa, snug inside my sleeping bag enjoying the sun.  I know like I look as though I haven't any clothes on - but I'm decent - honest - wouldn't want to shock a passing sheep or local.....  This view is from the back of the tent - all the panniers live in the back vestibule of the tent overnight, protected from the weather, but out of our way in the tent.

This photo shows us charging the computer - we have a waterproof and knife proof travel 'safe' bag that is big enough to lock the notebook pc up and chain it to something so it can't e pinched - and because it is waterproof we can leave the computer out overnight charging.  We use the electric hookups designed for caravans, Roger has made a suitable adapter that he carries with him so that we can usually manage to boil a kettle for cups of tea without using the gas stove - can be really difficult to source additional supplies just as and when you require them.

A lovely morning for cycling - followed the coast down to Wilhelmshaven (abbreviated to WHV on the signs), the first half of the ride very close to the edge of the sea - about the closest we've been for a very long time - and it is actually called the Nord See  on the map for once, rather than a Bay with a local name, or an estuary of a river.  Even the power station looked appealing in this wonderful light and beautiful blue sky and sea.

Unusually for this part of the trip the cycle route took us down some dark tree lined routes - the shade was very welcome today - but would have been murky and grim in the wet weather I'm sure.

Having said that we were now cycling alongside the Nord See for a change, south of WHV is a large bay called Jadebusen which we were due to cycle round to Eckwarderholme on the opposite side of the bay, about 30 miles away.  I'd spotted on the map a ferry that went across from WHV to Eckwarderholme , which seemed like a good idea - but then noticed that you could get the ferry from WHV to the island of Heligoland.  You may remember I mentioned the name of this island earlier in the blog and promise to tell you more about it later on.  As I may have mentioned before, I first became aware of Heligoland while researching my family history - Grandad Jervis served on HMS Lion which took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first naval battle of WW1, fought in August 1914.  Soon after this it was mentioned and discussed on Dan Snow's TV programme about the navy, and also I read about Heligolnd in the book called The Shipping Forecast.  I find the history of the island fascinating, so hoped that somewhere along the trip I might be able to wangle a trip out to it. The island lies 45 km off the German coast, and is a 3 hour sea trip north from here.  I remembered from The Shipping Forecast the author had gone to Hamburg to catch the boat from there to Heliogoland - so wondered where else you could go to from the island.  Turns out you can catch a ferry from Heligoland to Cuxhaven, which we were due to cycle through on Friday afternoon (today is Wednesday).  So we soon hatched the plan- we'd stay in a hotel in WHV as the ferry goes each morning from here at 9 am - and there are no near by campsites to camp on.  We get there at mid day, and there is a ferry at 4 pm that goes to Cuxhaven (we hope....).  We'll arrive there about 7pm tomorrow night if all goes to plan, and be ahead of schedule - we'll need to cycle about 6 miles or so to a campsite.  

You might think that 4 hours is not very long to be on the island - but this is the normal length of time as most visitors are day trippers.  It is only 1/2 a square mile in size!!! Have looked up what I can about the island, but most of the sites are German.  Unfortunately we have discovered that not that many people in this part of Germany speak much English - obviously not many of us get to visit these parts - which is a shame really - well worth exploring.  There are some trips you can take from the ship on the island - which will all be in German - but we may have to go on one if we want to see the underground bunkers.  Hopefully someone will be able to help us out with some translation.  We've had the experience of being the only English speakers in French speaking Quebec - up in the wilds on a tour of a dam.  The guide only spoke very limited English and none of the other people on the tour spoke any English at all.

So -what is a short potted history of the island?  

Under the protection of Denmark the islanders made a good living out of fishing for herring until in the mid 1500's the fish disappeared and nearly 2,500 people had to find some other way to make a living.  At that time the island had two sets of high cliffs, red ones and white ones.  The white cliffs (similar to those at Dover) were then chisled slowly away and sold as chalk, until eventually a gigantic storm finished the remains of the white cliffs off, leaving just a sandy 'dune' area and also cutting this area off from the red cliffs that make up the island proper today, with the small dunes island next door that you can get to by a short boat trip, and where the island airport is situated.  

As different methods of fishing and larger boats were introduced, once the white cliffs had disappeared the islanders could then make a living out of fishing for haddock and lobsters. In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars with France, the British Fleet, on its way back from Copenhagen called in at the island and 'took it' for the Crown.  The islanders now made their money out of trading goods from England to the Continent which due to Napoleons blockade were much in demand - I read that on one day alone 3-400 boats were counted on one day in the harbour, trading.  Following the end of hostilities the islanders were now forced to find yet another way to earn a living as the markets they had used to sell their fish to had disappeared during the hostilities - and tourism was suggested and promoted successfully from as early as 1826.  You could not own property or be part of a business there unless you had been born on the island - I'm not even sure if you could marry into it either.  They liked to be independent of any other people,and did not have a system that led to any person on the island being better than another - they were all considered equal to each other - there were no lords or masters.  They enjoyed being British citizens as such, but managed to keep their ways on the island very much as they had always been.  This state of affairs changed one England swapped the island with Germany for their East African state of Zanzibar, an island of Tanzania in July 1890.  The people of the island were not consulted, and were not impressed by the change.  Queen Victoria was asked to give her permission for the swap by the Prime Minister at the time (think it was Lord Salisbury) - she said only if the people agreed (he lied to her and said they had agreed) and also that we may well come to regret giving up something we had previously ruled in the future.  Which very much came true very soon afterwards.

Kaiser Wilhelm the second started turning the island into a gigantic naval base (preparing for WW1) - and by the time the war broke out there was a fortress with guns, a large harbour and underground quarters.  He had also allowed non born islanders to buy property and also own businesses,the only right the islanders managed to hold on to was that any islander born while the island was still under English rule were not forced to be conscripted into the German forces.

The naval battle of Heligoland Bite was fought in the waters close to the island - how different things might have been if England had still ruled this island???

During WW1 the islanders were forced to leave the island but were allowed to return at the end of the war in 1918, but things were not the same as before for the islanders.

In 1933, under Hitler the fortress of Heligoland rose again from the ashes (it had been destroyed at the end of WW1 as part of the Treaty of Versailles) but during WW2 the islanders stayed on the island, sheltering many nights in the underground areas from the Allied Forces planes, bombing them repeatedly on their way to the German mainland.  On April 18th 1945, in under two hours a thousand giant bombers emptied their magazines on the island,completely destroying every building on it, craters touching craters over all the land.  There were very few civilian casualties though as they were all sheltering underground - but 128 German soldiers were killed manning the anti aircraft guns.  The lighthouse was destroyed inn the attack.  The following night the island was evacuated and in early May surrendered to the Allies.

What happened after this I find difficult to believe - but the British seemed to have it in for the island - they seemed to want to make it totally disappear for some reason.  No one was allowed back on the island, not even a lifeboat rescue boat was allowed to be stationed on the island.  In 1947 the English Navy used 6800 tons of explosive to try and wipe the island out - when the dust settled though it was still there - though one corner of the island now had gentle hills.  The Royal Air Force then started to use the island as a bombing range.  After much outrage from all sorts of different quarters in 1952 the island was finally given back to the Germans -and the islanders allowed to return - but not before it had had to be completely rebuilt after first clearing all the unexploded bombs and mine shells, re-landscaping and building new dwellings and town infra structure. An architectural competition was organised - so will be interesting to see what the result has turned out to be.

There is reputed to be a sign post on the island that points to England and to Zanzibar, which i hope we will find, plus  a tribute to Queen Victoria in the church I think.  Hope the weather tomorrow  is as wonderful and as perfect as it has been today for such a trip.  I'm really excited about getting to see the island - it seems to be very popular with the holiday makers here.

WHV looks good in the sunshine - I love cities and towns with water frontage.

We found a lovely hotel not far from where you get the ferry - and with Wifi as well thrown in. Glad it took very little persuasion to make Roger drop his plan of looking to see if there was a Youth Hostel in the town.  Here is a photo of the hotel - our room was the last one they had, and is directly above the main entrance with its own, unshared balcony, with a great view of the bay.

... and here is a view from the hotel room ... very up market for us to have a sea view, or indeed to actually be in a hotel room at a seaside type place....

We both were in need of a 'rest' from our holiday I think ..... and have made the most of being in the hotel since 2 o'clock this afternoon.

While some snoozed and read a book I did the long overdue washing in the shower and tried to hang it as discretely as possible on the balcony to dry - difficult as right above the busy cafe area in front of the hotel - good job the balcony floor was solid or else the clothes would have been dripping on the diners....  Meant I couldn't really put the knickers and socks out to dry though - not particularly very classy look to the hotel!!!

Went out later in the afternoon to find a supermarket and get some money out of the hole in the wall - had to cycle away from the port area into the main town area, seems a nice place to live.  Great to see the locals sunbathing and swimming in the bay later on in the afternoon after the end of the work day.  Lots of water frontage all over the place.

While trying to find something in English about the island of Heligoland I suddenly found a reference to the fact that the island is not only car free, but also bicycle free as well!! Was this the end of our very 'elegant' plan - couldn't find out until the ticket office opened at 7.15 pm when the daily boat got back from its trip to the island.  Walked down later on to see if our fears were correct- and yes they were - the only people allowed bikes on the island are the police....  No idea why though???  The ticket office was still shut even though it said it should be open, but managed to chat to some of the crew who confirmed this,but said that we could still take the bikes with us, and then arrange for them to be transferred at the harbour on the island on to the ferry we want to go on later on in the day - but we won't be able to make use of them to get around unfortunately.  Taken us completely by surprise - never dreamt that there could be a place in the world that totally banned bikes.....

So now you know much more than you ever probably wanted to know about Heligoland - but another fact is that the Germans call it Helgoland rathe than Heligoland that the British call it.  Also it used to be the name of an area in the Shipping Forecast until having its name changed to German Bight instead (... Tyne, Dogger,German Bight....)

Better go to bed now, breakfast at 7 (I know, late for most of you lot reading this blog), get the bikes out of the storage room in the bowels of the hotel, load up the bags, cycle to the ferry booth for when it opens at 8am, etc.   All very different to our normal routine of the last two months.