Today we had a somewhat longer journey down the Peenstrom , the strait or channel that separates the island of Usedom from the mainland and then out into the sea area called Stettiner Haff in German, Zalew Szczeciński in Polish and Szczecin or Stettin Lagoon in English. Once out in the wider area we would head SE towards Ueckermünde, a harbour town just a few miles across the bay from Poland. The total distance is about 30 miles. There was one bridge to get past, the Zecherin bridge situated just before the entrance to the bay and this bridge only has a few opening times, the most convenient for us being 12:45, so this dictated our start off time, which was 08:30. It was something like 16 miles to the bridge so we had enough time to try sailing, we could always use the engine if we felt that we couldn’t get there in time under sail. Indeed, that is what happened as the light breeze sometimes fell to a few knots and at other times blew up to 10 knots which was fine for sailing. It was lovely travelling down the Peenstrom in the warm sunshine, I imagine the scenery is little changed for hundreds of years. We arrived in plenty of time for the bridge opening, some boats had motored all the way down and enjoyed an hour or so under anchor whilst they waited.

By now the wind was freshening and was blowing form the NE, a sailable direction once we were out by the clear water buoy at the exit to the Peenstrom. The water is very shallow in Stettin bay, only a few metres, not deep but deep enough. Speaking of depths I haven’t mentioned that all the way down the Peenstrom, it is imperative to follow the buoyed channel as there is virtually no water on either side and precious little in it – we had 0.4m under the keel at one point!

The 9 miles or so down to the clear water buoy at the entrance channel to Ueckermünde was covered in no time, we hit 7.5 knots for a brief period. However once in the channel it made sense to furl the sails as the way up to the town is basically a canal of about a mile and a half long. Again, the countryside was lovely, even more reminiscent of the Norfolk broads. Entering the basin in the town, we called Graham & Fay and were allocated a berth rafted alongside Odile with Andy & Pauline Smith. This was convenient as we’d intended asking them over for aperitifs tonight – they wouldn’t have far to walk!

These town harbours don’t always have as many facilities as regular marinas and here was no exception. There are the following :- 1 disabled toilet, open all hours but with a 50c entrance charge, 1 ladies’ toilet and 1 shower and 1 gents’ toilet & urinal & 1 shower. Toilets cost 50c and showers 50c for a generous 6 minutes, provided, that is, that you can get to them! The other point is that the ladies & gents facilities are locked from 21:00 onwards, open again at 07:00. All in all, not brilliant for 17 boats! Despite the lack of facilities, Ueckermünde is a good harbour to stop in. It is another old town, with cobbled streets and very pleasant indeed. It also has a very large Lidl, which is always good.

At 18:00 we had Andy & Pauline on board, as mentioned earlier and they were joined by Graham & Fay Cattell and Nicholas Hill (Prospero) and his crew Pam Cassidy and we had a lively couple of hours and when everyone had gone, Julie made a pesto & mushroom dish with spaghetti, very tasty indeed.