We had a nice sail along the coast, only 14 miles, to Warnemüde where we tied up in the Alter Strom, a short canal in the centre of town. On both sides of the canal there are shops, bars and restaurants, including disused fishing boats and stalls selling fish sandwiches – there is so much fish to choose from whether on a plate on in a sandwich.
Many tourist boats are based in Alter Strom
Planning for more boat berths, the boat is tied between the red bouy and the quaysideMmmh we had a lovely hot smoked salmon sandwich hereWe have notice this extreme tree pruning in every town we have visited!
A lovely old windmill being converted into appartments
Sculptor Wolfgang Friedrich made this sculpture in 2004, it is to commemorate the past when citizens would dress up and parade to welcome the new town representative (presumably the Mayor)
Being a seafaring town, there is a search and rescue presence and so it was nice to see that Adele, the old rescue boat had been given pride of place. Onward and upwards to the lighthouse which, at 110 steps and 31 metres high, gave a good view of the surrounding area.
Adele sitting on a wavy pavement
Alter Strom where we were berthed for 3 nights, if you look closely you should see “Ceejay” a few boats before the blue crane.
Town buildings being dwarfed by 2 cruise liners berthed at the dock on theNorthern Germany has amazing white sandy beaches that go on for miles, they are planting grasses to try to stop sand erosion
A cycle ride on our last day in Kühlungsborn took us 1 kilometre along the promenade to the old town. A large park separates the town, both parts being purpose built holiday resorts from different centuries. The oldest buildings in west Kühlungsborn are from the 1800s, however there’s nothing older than 25 years in the east part. Anyway enough waffling, although the sun has been shining the temperatures are still between 6 and 10 degrees, so it wasn’t surprising to see so few ‘strandkorb’ beach chairs in use.
We popped into see the east Konsertgarten, no music playing here, further on we passed Schloss am Meer, a rather posh hotel, before reaching the west Konsertgarten where two guys were playing some good music, we only recognised one song though. We were sure during the Summer months all the seats would be full and more people will be dancing.
Whilst we were cruising from Poel to Kühlunsborn, we saw the Pilot Boat pass us going out to meet the St Pauli, a freighter heading for the channel to Wismar. Colin was amazed that a ship a of this size, with the Pilot onboard chose not to enter the channel proper, but to cut across a sandbank, leaving only 2 metres below his keel.
The first two pictures are of our plotter screen showing, firstly the ship’s “AIS” Data: it shows he is 304 feet long with a draft (the amount of ship below the waterline) of 4.9 meters, it also shows him doing 9.1knots.
The second picture shows both the smaller boat (the pilot boat) and the ship cutting across the sandbank in 8.5 meters of water but heading for a shallower part of 6.4 and us sailing out of the channel to give him room, (we are the black triangle heading for the red “X”)
The top details are us, so we are doing 4.8knots on a heading of 058 degrees.
We are the black triangle heading for the red X, the ship is the top triangleThe “Chancer” 😬😬
After berthing at the Marina in Kühlungsborn we went for a walk and discovered this little Champagne Bar by the beach, the bar also sold food – the speciality being currywurst and pommes i.e. a sausage covered in curry sauce served with chips – well it’s just something you’ve to do isn’t it.
Molli the narrow gauge steam train runs from Kühlungsborn to Bad Doberan, a return journey of 18 miles, but instead of catching the train we decided to cycle. We are still amazed by the quality of cycle paths in Europe, and by the drivers’ attitude to cyclists. The route took us through wooded tracks and onto mini purpose built cyclist roads.
In Bad Doberan Molli chugs down the main street, quite a sight to see. Lunch of delicious Spargelsuppe (asparagus soup) was enjoyed in the ‘Weisser Pavillon’, which is set in the Kamp, a park laid out in 1800 and was the meeting place of the social elite of the time.
Ceejay spent the Winter, tucked up inside a large hanger along with 35 other boats, at Weilandt’s Winterlager, Burgstakken, Fehmarn island, on the German Baltic coast. We were happy with it’s condition, particularly because we had no Winter moss to jet-wash from the deck. After completing our planned maintenance, Ceejay was launched on 27 April 2019. On 29 April we set sail for Großebrode, where we anchored in the bay, only a short 10 mile sail to test everything was working properly. In the evening I noticed some flies hovering above the cockpit, but didn’t think too much about it ….. later though Colin realised (I was in bed sleeping) that a swarm of, we think May flies, landed on the boat with many, Colin reckons hundreds, managing to get inside – apparently mayhem then ensued as Colin tried to clear the saloon of the pesky intruders; I was sleeping honest!
A few days later we tied up in Travemünde, a nice little town with some old buildings and where the sailing ship Passat is berthed at the entrance to the Trave River. Travemünde is where we met Rolf and Wolfgang, two experienced Dutch sailors, who invited us aboard Boaty McBoatface for dinner and an evening of tall tales.
It was in Travemünde that we realise that the cakes were big enough to feed a small family, although we didn’t share instead eating one each.
The Passat was built in1911, and was one of the last true Cape Horn sailing ships.
As we were exiting the Trave heading for Wismar, we saw several two masted gaff schooners racing, it was nice to see so many in action
Wismar has some very old buildings, which have been kept in excellent condition, the market square is the largest in northern Germany. The bikes had their first outing when we cycled to the Botanic Gardens, the gardens themselves, although early in the season, did seem quite rundown; the glass house is now, we think from peering through the black out tape, being used to restore old cars. We climbed the viewing tower for a better view of the gardens and surrounding area.
We saw this picture, of old Wismar, hanging in an archway leading to someone’s garden.
This is the Water gate to the city, the only gate left of the original 5 gates as part of the city wall
The view from the tower in the gardens, the shed in the distance is the largest covered boat-shed in Europe in 1994
Then on to the horseshoe shaped island of Poel, only 5 miles north of Wismar, we spent 3 days on the island, first in Kirchdorf and then on to Timmendorf. Skilled boat builders repair wooden boats by the harbour in Kirchdorf just below the Kirke and fort which date back to the 1300s.
The swallows were quite friendly and allowed us quite close before flying off
Scenes like this remind us to stay in he narrow channel leading to and from Kirchdorf.
On 11 May there was to be a festival to celebrate the growth of the Rape crop.A Coot making its nest in the village pond
This sculpture was erected to commemorate the prisoners of war who died when the ships they were being held on were sunk by British planes. Pilots had been informed the ships were carrying fleeing SS Officers and had saw SS Officers on deck, however Bomber Command had been made aware, one day before the raid, that the ships were carrying prisoners but a miscommunication meant the pilots were not informed to cancel the raid. This happened on the 3 May 1945 – the war ended on 8 May.
This is the view off the bow of Ceejay from Timendorf Harbour showing the ‘deck chairs’ commonly seen on German beaches
I should have combed my hair before having my picture taken
This is just a wee test to see if the new app makes life easier.
The Baltic beckons so our travels continue
After a week of preparations, Ceejay being launched for the season.
We met two Dutch guys in Travemunde who had sailed to Brazil and back again in a Vancouver 27 ( Ceejay is a Vancouver 32) they came on board and were impressed with the space we have. However, it was nothing compared to their latest boat, called “Boaty McBoatface” which if you keep up with the news was the name voted as the most popular for the new Royal Research Ship, “THEY” didn’t like it so called it the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead!
Cruisingchute2019 