Spiekeroog
Spiekeroog was a long awaited destination. The approach from the shifting Otzumer Balje through sandbanks and the narrow channel into the harbour – with the looming ferry – gave it a special excitement.
It’s the area of Erskine Childer’s The Riddle of the Sands: “For the night, we groped with the lead into the Muschel Balge, the tributary channel which laps round the inside of Spiekeroog, and lay in two fathoms, clear of the outer swell, but rolling a little when the ebb set in strong against the wind.” As Carruthers remarks: “The reader should take note that the tide-table is very important henceforward.”
Indeed, tides play a big role in planning as the harbour is only accessible at high water through a shallow canal through the sands and falls partly dry. The ferry connecting Spiekeroog with the mainland at Neuharlingersiel draws only 80 cm.
Spiekeroog’s harbour at high tide.
Spiekeroog is the pearl of the German Frisian islands and well worth repeated visits!
The channel to the harbour in Spiekeroog at low tide.