We’re supposed to be having a strong wind from the SSW today with a little rain later. In fact we have a strong wind from the ESE, precisely the direction we need to travel if we want to get to Fehmarn. So, it was a stay in harbour day. We erected the cockpit cover to make the rear of the boat warmer and used up the morning by having a late breakfast, blogging, reading and generally relaxing. This formula works well for us for a while, we can pass the morning quite agreeably but by early afternoon, we do get twitchy so we set off for a walk after lunch, lunch incidentally from rolls bought from the baker right here in the harbour.

We decided to walk up the coast a ways and see what there was to see. Looking out to sea we were 100% convinced that the decision to stay was the right one, as we saw boats struggling to get into harbour after a downwind or crosswind sail – no one was attempting an upwind passage such that we would have needed to make. To the right of the beach was a marshy area with a number of extensive ponds, a real haven for birdlife.  One of the species we saw was a number of lapwings flying about in an agitated manner and the reason for it soon manifested itself – a fox was on the hunt. I don’t know whether it succeeded in reducing the next generation of lapwings or not as it disappeared in the high grasses. Further on, we came across a small herd of something we certainly didn’t expect to see –Exmoor ponies! Apparently they were imported into Denmark during the 1960’s and the ones in Langeland were brought in in 2006 from the island of Møn. The idea is that they help to improve plant diversity with their grazing and man only interferes with them either for health checks or feeding in harsh winters.

We managed to make our walk a circular walk when we came across a track that later became a tarmac road which led to another road back to Bagenkop, where we popped into the local small supermarket for a frozen pizza, tonight’s  alfresco meal. Back on board we kept ourselves amused watching the antics of yachts enedeavouring, with varying degrees of success, to enter their berths. It is not easy when there is a strong crosswind blowing and some yachts only succeeded after several attempts, poor souls.