In just a few hours

We frequently observe that it takes a day to get anywhere. Even a short flight involves a lengthy airport wait and the general palarver that modern day journeys include. But today was different! We left LHR this morning, having stayed over (and checked in) last evening and this lunchtime, we were sitting by the Baltic Sea in the sunshine, having already got my feet wet!

Mind you, it did involve an early start. A very early start in fact. Our alarms (both of them!) had been set for 4.30am, because our flight was boarding at 6.20am for a 7.10am departure. That meant we arrived in Hamburg at 9.45am, having adjusted our watches en route.

We picked up our rental car and were soon driving through the outskirts of Hamburg towards our Ostholstein destination, Timmendorfer Strand, where I'd last been some 47 years ago, with the Isle of Wight Youth Orchestra.

Picture the scene, August 1978. I was a young teacher, working on the Isle of Wight, teaching science to 13 year olds but having “confessed” to being a violinist on my job application. Coincidentally, Barbara was secretary to both the Schools Science Adviser and the Music Adviser and, knowing the Youth Orchestra was short of a female staff member for their upcoming tour, prompted the music adviser to give me a call. Perhaps I'd like to spend a couple of weeks chaperoning a few youngsters in this area, twinned with the Isle of Wight? When he learned that I was a German speaker too, my tickets were on the way. There followed a wonderful couple of weeks, filled with fun, laughter and music and I returned home on a high.

And almost immediately met my Hero.

The rest is history of course, but suffice to say that he's always been curious about this corner of Germany and when the opportunity arose to include Ostholstein in our trip, he didn't need further persuasion. We lost no time in making our way to Timmendorfer Strand today then, and by noon were wriggling our toes in the sand.

After a small altercation with the parking machine, that is. The sunshine on the dimly lit LED screen made reading the details almost impossible, so we put in a few coins, printed a ticket and hoped for the best.

It being the German seaside, here were no deckchairs, but Strandkörbe, the wicker woven beach chairs which are traditional to this coast.

We rented one for a couple of hours and settled ourselves in with a fine view of the waves and caught up of a few of those zzzzz we'd missed early this morning. Blissful!

This afternoon, we continued our journey towards Eutin, where our hotel room overlooks the lake. I had already shared memories of watching “Cav and Pag” at the Carl Maria von Weber theatre by the lake and a boat trip on the steamer which was appropriately named “Der Freischütz”. Late this afternoon, hearing a commotion outside, we looked over the balcony rail to see a boat moored outside, preparing for an afternoon tour.

Yes, of course it was (still) called “Der Freischütz”!

This evening, we sat in the Eutin town square, enjoying a fine supper and a glass or two of local beer, remembering that this time last night, we'd been checking in for our early morning flight at the airport.

What a lovely day and how far we've come. In terms of miles, not that far, but in our mindset, well, perhaps 47 years?!