A Day at the North Sea: Tuesday, June 30

Today, Uschi fulfilled my one great travel wish for this summer’s trip: a day on the North Sea (i.e. Atlantic) coast. Since Oldenburg is only about an hour by car from the nearest point on the coast, it was the perfect day for us to get our ocean fix (or, rather, for ME to get my ocean fix and for Mark to happily trudge along).

This satellite map of our three stopping points along the Northern German coast Northeast of Wilhelmshaven is nice because you can see the mudflats between the mainland and the islands that are exposed during low tide and fill up with ocean as the tide rises.

So, after a lovely breakfast with rolls and croissants I got from the nearby bakery with the delightful name “Kekserei” (roughly, “The Cakery”), fruit salad made by Uschi, and lovely homemade jam, we headed out around 9 am and were at the small beach town of Schillig before 10:30. Uschi basically dropped us off at the shore and we agreed on a place about 5-6 miles (10 km) East along the beach / dyke path where she would meet up with us again. So we had a wonderful 2.5 hour walk as the water was slowly coming back into the classic Northern German mudflats (Wattenmeer), with high tide at about 1:30 pm, just after we had met with Uschi again. We loved the views, complete with sheep “mowing” the side of the dyke, many fun shorebirds and marsh birds, and several of the East Frisian islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) in the middle distance. It was cooler, mostly cloudy, and a bit of a breeze was blowing, which was just delightful after those hot weeks we just had.

The mudflats by Schillig, about 3 hours after low tide, with a group of students coming back from a guided hike. Going without a guide is extremely dangerous, because the tide can cut you off from the shore.
Sheep on the dyke, with clouds that look threatening but never produced so much as a sprinkle!
An oystercatcher against the salt marshes that lie between the dyke and the mudflats and teem with birds
Reunited with Uschi near the tiny village of Friederikensiel

After that, we sat on a bench behind the dyke and had the rolls and the alcohol-free beer/lemonade mix (Radler) we brought with us for a fabulous picnic lunch, and Uschi took us to Harlesiel, where the ferry to one of the islands (Wangerooge) leaves, and we sat in a café with coffee and ice cream and looked out at the sea as it hit high tide (not a dramatic moment, but it’s always exciting when “the ocean is there” at the North Sea!). I also went down to the water front for a short peek, but we took a longer look at the ocean at North Sea Stop 3, Neuharlingersiel, where a ferry leaves for another island, Spiekeroog. Of all three places, it is the most charming and picturesque, with a tiny little harbor where the shrimp fishermen sell shrimp off the boat, and where there was a little market today. We wandered around for a bit and then also went down to the water so I could stick my feet in the very shallow water before it disappeared again.

Uschi and Mark in the charming Neuharlingersiel harbor
Walking into the ocean, with the island of Spiekeroog in the background. I have fond memories of Spiekeroog from the vacation my kids and I spent there with Imke and Hermann in the summer of 2001, when Kai was just starting to walk.
Getting back from the water was a bit of a challenge. Am I a stick-in-the-mud or what? (“Schlick” is the German term for this specific receding-tide mudflats mud)
There were some kite surfers out and about, some flying dramatically up in the air. But here you can see that the drama was happening in ankle-deep water, because the kite surfer is surfing by a guy just STANDING there.

At about 4:30, we headed back home, and Uschi spoiled us by letting us rest and hang out while she made us a lovely dinner with soup, salad, and pasta with red pesto, followed by a tray of treats, all of it delicious! We talked and talked (we always enjoy each other’s company so much) and Mark and I took a brief turn around the block, down Uschi’s street to yet another little park, to the Oldenburg city theater and then back around to Uschi’s before we went to bed! Now we’re good and tired.

Leave a Reply