Spiekeroog

Island with Sunshine

Don't sleep in today: Guests at the neighboring house already left at 5:30 AM, which wouldn’t be so bad if they hadn't said goodbye to each other for a long time and very loudly. I preferred the sheep as my alarm clock.

The ferry to Spiekeroog was fully booked when we purchased the tickets. However, there was the option to take a smaller express ferry to reach the island. This ferry can't take as many people on board and only takes 20 minutes for the crossing.

From the pier, we walked to the town, where the shops were still closed before 10 AM. So we made our way to the beach, not by the shortest route, but through the nature reserve. Again, we kept to the paths, avoiding the dunes. Cyclists and pedestrians had differently paved paths. There weren't many people around since it was still breakfast time for many guests.

The dunes are predominantly wooded hills with valleys where heather, moss, blackberries, shrubs, and trees grow. There were no animals around to disturb this vegetation. But it's quite evident that rain has been scarce for a while.

The beach was a longer distance away. The dog beach was the first one we reached. So we climbed up and down the hill through very soft sand, until we finally saw the sea beneath us. There were hardly any people, with or without dogs. In the distance, freight ships could be seen and nothing else, except the waves rolling onto the beach. We could hear the sea and a few birds.

After a wonderfully relaxing half hour on the blanket in the sand, it became livelier with people wanting to let their dogs run without a leash. So we headed back to the interior of the island, a small snack in a café, refueling for the next round.

The UTIEKER at the top of a dune is worth the climb to a small platform. By now, there were plenty of people at the beach. We enjoyed the sun and wind again with a sea buckthorn ice cream from the