From port to resort in GERMANY
As the children and I begin our ascent, leaving behind Hiddensee’s tiny harbour at Kloster, the sun beats on the dusty footpath – and our brows.
With the island’s vastness of sandy beaches to enjoy, it hadn’t been our intention to climb the Dornbusch, the only high ground on Hiddensee. But the increasing splendour of the national park scenery seems to draw us on.
Past expanses of sanddorn bushes, laden with berries. Past wind-sculpted deadwood, lying like silver treasure on the heathland. Past wafts of scented pines that offer a little shade, and a chorus of cicadas chattering in the grass.
Not anticipating our hilltop hike, foolishly, we are short of water. But as we reach the first viewpoint, all thoughts of hydration dissipate. Before us is a wide vista of green and blue. By the time we reach the lighthouse, on the highest point of the Dornbusch, our thirst is quenched at a café hidden amid the clifftop woods.
From cruise ships to canals
Hiddensee is one of several islands that we visited as we zigzagged our way along Germany’s coast, from its border with the Netherlands and the North Sea in the west, to its border with Poland and the Baltic Sea in the east.
We began our tour of northern Germany slightly inland, at the riverside town of Papenburg, close to the Dutch border. As we approached, intense curiosity got the better of us about the colossal buildings dominating the skyline. They belong to Josef Meyer, a shipbuilding company whose gigantic headquarters run a fascinating tour, where you can watch some of the world’s largest cruise ships under construction before they’re tugged – backwards – 30 miles downstream along the River Ems to the sea.
Papenburg, with its rich nautical history set within the flat, fertile lands of East Frisia, is the focal point of the German Fen Route, a 100-mile touring trail
