The forecast for today was for some rainy periods after a couple of overnight showers. We’d initially decided to catch the 11:20 bus to Schlesswig for the day but firstly we wanted to call into the Tourist Office for some guidance. We therefore left CW in plenty of time to find it and when we did so, we suddenly recalled that we had visited here before, as it isn’t just any old tourist office, it is rather splendidly housed in an old windmill called Amanda. The lady inside was very helpful and she helped us decide our new plan, one which we’d conceived on the way there and that was to leave Schlesswig for the morning and to catch the 09:40 bus instead, thereby giving us longer to look around there. The Cruising Association’s 2019 ‘Cruising Guide to Germany’ mentioned that the town of Arnis, a few km from Kappeln was pretty and this was confirmed by the Tourist lady, so that was today’s plan, to spend some time in Arnis.

We caught the 11:30 to Arnis, a return ticket for the two of us costing €9.80 and I was pleased that the driver had understood me! It was only a short 8 minute ride to Arnis and this included a detour to the local school for zero passengers and consequently we were soon alighting on the outskirts of this small village.

It was indeed a charming place, situated right on the Schlei and with a row of houses in picture perfect condition. However, there was rather less to see here than we anticipated and by 12:45 we’d seen it all and had a cake and coffee to keep us going, so we opted to catch the 13:02 bus and to have lunch back on board. This ride was a different experience than the outward leg, as the bus was nearly 100% full of primary school children and the noise level was in the higher end of acceptable decibel range! Still, they were having fun and excited to be at the end of their school day and it was a pleasure watching them all.

Back on board we were just in time to put the cockpit cover up as the promised rain materialized. It didn’t last long though, so we went to look for the harbor museum, basically a collection of early last century vessels that were lying alongside in a dedicated harbor area. It is nice to see these old girls and speaking of old, it is a universal truth that the people that maintain them are a) all male and b) well into retirement age! Good luck to them, as they were chipping away at rust, welding, grinding and hammering, all in the rain that had started again, rain which encouraged us to return to the boat so I could write this.  Unless something profound and worthy of mention happens later this evening, which is unlikely, today ends here.