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.