All of yesterday's horrible grey cloud and contrary winds had gone by the morning. Instead we had a gentle NW breeze and beautiful, clear skies. The difference a day can make!

After a lazy breakfast of bacon & egg, we decided to stretch our legs and walk out to the lighthouse and back via another path on the western shore – we were on the east of this narrow island . We wanted to make a day of it or at least not be bothered by hunger so sandwiches were made to sustain us in our exploratory adventures. Julie then noticed that there was a Cruising Association boat in the harbour and upon further investigation and consultation with our handbook, we ascertained that she was a Freedom ketch, belonging to Gerald & Linda Freshwater but there was no-one on board we could introduce ourselves to, so we set off.

Hiddensee is a gem of an island, particularly when the sun is out. Its’ inhabitants must rely almost entirely on tourist – generated income, with day tourists coming in from Stralsund and longer-term visitors occupying houses and chalets. Now as most people reading this are British, I can imagine the reader’s reaction – thoughts of the hordes in Padstow or Rhyl or Margate or somewhere but please be assured, this is the Baltic and people here are different, they really are. There were quite a few people but they were quiet, well-mannered and absolutely no litter was evident, anywhere . I think that the sort of people that come here do so for the peace and tranquillity and the last thing they would do was to spoil things. No cars were evident on the island, we saw two electric vehicles, several horse-drawn carriages and many, many bicycles.

The walk to the hill upon which the lighthouse sits takes one across low-lying pasture land, being grazed by numerous ponies which looked like they had descended from Icelandic stock and which are employed by a pony-trecking business and many, many geese, mostly Canada geese. With the myriad of wild flowers on the fringes of the meadow and the animals quietly grazing and the backdrop of the sound to Rügen behind, it was a truly lovely scene. The views got even better when we climbed the hill and I have included some photos. One, taken out to sea northwards, shows the cliffs on the Danish island of Møn, 27 miles away, it was so clear. We had our lunch on the hill, enjoying the scenery and after it, we headed back to the boat via the beach on the western side of the island, where I was able to enjoy, very briefly until dragged away, some scenery of a different sort – naked ladies sunbathing! It’s good to be back in Germany…

We arrived back in the harbour by 14:30 or so and determined that Castaway was still empty and then I noticed another CA burgee, this time belonging to Mike & Helen Clegg, also not around . Their boat is a classic, a Rustler 36 but I would hate to have to use her name in an emergency over the radio, it is, wait for it, - Yena of Le Guilvinec. What a tortuous mouthful, almost as bad as our first boat, which we, aptly as it turned out, renamed from 'Captari of Maypool’ to ‘Jude’. I say aptly as St Jude is I am told, the patron saint of hopeless and lost causes or something like that and Jude certainly was at one stage one of those, taking us not the 3 months we were told it would to get her ready to sail – rather it was over two years and many (too many to think about) thousands of pounds more than it should have. Ah well, that was a long time ago and CW has more than made up for it.

We had a couple of hours sunbathing and then went off to try and find an ice cream (unsuccessfully) but on the assumption that the house will sell next week, we bought some champagne. We’re not superstitious, not really, but a little frisson of nervousness did affect me, I must confess.

That evening we barbecued some sausages, using the communal barbeque. It was a splendid, really splendid evening. We also were called upon by the Freshwaters on their way to dinner – they’d been having drinks with the Cleggs. The Freshwaters are going to be in the Rally and also, were heading for Warnemünde tomorrow, as were we, so we invited them over for a drink on the next evening. I popped over to see the Cleggs but they won’t be rallying, so we may not see them again but their boat is being kept in Fehmarn this year, so we may well see them there. That was about it for the day, a really nice one and with easterly winds forecast for the morning, we looked forward to a sail down to Warnemünde in summery conditions.