Our next visitors are due to join us on the boat at Rønne, the capital of the Danish island of Bornholm, in the afternoon of next Monday. Bornholm is some 50 – 60 miles from Rügen ie. a day’s sail and in order to ensure that we are there for them, we need to leave Germany on Saturday, or Sunday at the latest. That gives us 3 days to enjoy the Rügen area and as part of this plan, we intended returning to the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, first given its’ city charter in 1234. Here we would meet up with the Churchwards on Lapwing and we planned to go for a pizza that evening. Our guests on CW would be Elaine and Jon, (Skeffington & Lee) who were catching the overnight ferry over from Copenhagen and there they would be joined by Richard & John (Barling and Ford), who would be staying in a hotel in Rønne for a couple of days. They are old friends and we were looking forward very much to seeing them all.

The wind was still in the same direction as it has been for several days, blowing today with more gentle force from the WNW. Stralsund is 22 miles from Lauterbach and as mentioned yesterday, we need to be there by 12:20 in order to make the bridge opening time. The direction of travel for the first 10 miles or so was ideal for sailing given the wind direction but sadly, given our time gate, we wouldn’t cover enough ground at the speeds we would achieve under sail, so once again the engine had to be used. After 10 miles the buoyed channel heads northwards so sails would have been useless anyway. We set off at 08:15 in promising weather, there was a fair bit of cloud about but when the sun was out, it was pleasantly warm. We love the Baltic when the sun shines, it’s rarely so hot as to be the enemy, you can enjoy the warmth of its rays all day without too much harm as long as you’re sensible.

The journey up to the bridge was uneventful and we arrived nicely on time, with about 10 minutes to spare. There were about 15 other boats waiting to go through by the time the bridge opened and a similar number passed us going southwards, they came through first. Once through, we went in search of the fuel berth as here they provide non-bio diesel which is better for marine diesel engines. It is very expensive, costing €1.62/litre but it’s worth paying the difference to reduce the chances of having problems. We filled the tank to the top, it took 59 litres and we now know we have enough fuel to last us the season, although we will top up again if we find similar fuel elsewhere.

Lapwing was berthed on the pontoon nearest the toilet block, very sensible and luckily for us, there was an available berth on the hammerhead at the end of the same pontoon, where we tied up snugly. Pat & Keith weren’t around, they were in town presumably. Our first job, having secured the boat, was getting some washing done. Here in Stralsund marina there is only one washing machine and there is almost always a queue, so normally we like to ensure our slot by doing it early but of course today was not an option. We were, however, quite lucky in that whilst the machine was in use, there was nobody else waiting so we left our dirty laundry there to ensure our turn and went back to the boat, to return after 30 minutes when the last cycle should have finished. It had but not satisfactorily – there was still some water in the drum and moreover, the ‘clean’ washing still had soap powder on it. Needless to say the attractive (very) German lady was less than happy and we went in search of the marina staff, who were obviously used to the problem as a member was round with a water-sucking vacuum cleaner in no time. The problem with the washing machine was a blocked filter, a sock or something had got into it, as well as bits of other nameless gunge and that had prevented proper drainage. Once fixed, of course we had to wait again as the hapless lady wanted to do another (brief) wash in order to rinse out her clothes, which of course we agreed to and so once again, we went back to CW, to return after 35 minutes when the cycle was again completed. This time the washing was clean but it looked pretty wet but she had told us it was OK for us to take it out and place it in the dryer, so we did. However there was still a bit of water in the drum and again I asked the marina staff to come and this time, he simply put the machine on pump out to see if there was a blockage, which there wasn’t and he told us it would be OK and so it proved. The trials and tribulations of washing clothes on a boat are endless!

By now it was a glorious afternoon, a brilliant drying day and lovely weather to spend in the cockpit watching it – makes a change from watching paint doing the same and more fun! Pat & Keith were back and as previously arranged, they came on board for ice-laden G&T’s before we went to have pizzas – they are good here, their pizza Diavolo, which I like, was generously laden with meat and jalapeños and Keith also enjoyed his, whilst Julie had pizza Montana (eggs, olives, egg, ham and Greek peppers ) and Pat Hawaiian pizza (ugh, not to my taste!) and we all enjoyed them. It was a very pleasant evening, the first time ever that we have spent significant time solely in each other’s company and we enjoyed it (at least Julie and I did, I can’t speak for the Churchwards!).