Berlin is a long way in land and we were missing the sea. A number of people had told us how beautiful Ruegen was and as the weather was hot and sunny it seemed like a good time to visit. Ruegen is the largest island in Germany and is on the Baltic Coast. On the first day we drove around the eastern part of the island. The scenery is different from Brandenburg, it is a lot more rolling with smaller fields and hedgerows. Coming from a hilly part of England we miss the rolling landscape and Ruegen was a welcome change. As the weather was so warm we stopped at the beach for an hour or two. The Baltic Sea was surprisingly warm. As it freezes in winter I had expected the opposite. However, it is a shallow sea and so warms up quickly. This also means that it will freeze quickly in winter.

We also found out what "FKK" means - no clothes and had our first "full" view of the German love of nudism.

Sunday was also hot and sunny. The beach at Binz was a lovely sandy one and covered with the little two seat chairs that shelter you from the sun and wind. We then drove over to the north part of the island to see the cliffs and the Konigstuhle. We parked at the tourist centre and walked through the forest to the cliffs. At the Konigstuhle they wanted to charge for entry. We tried to save the money by walking down the 600 steps to the beach to see if we could see the Konigstuhle. It was not a good view and the hot sweaty climb up was trying. We paid the money, went in, had a beer and the went to see the view.

Right up in the north western corner are three light houses. These are of different ages and show the development of lighthouses. They are at a headland were the west and east coasts meet. The drive back across the island gave us more views of the rolling scenery, a last fill before heading back to the flatness of Brandenburg. Winter will be an interesting time to return when everything, including the sea is frozen.