'Old Love’ & Walking to an Island – Horst Cerni

Nadia, Anneliese & Daniel on the Wadden Sea

Each place we lived in seems to cast a “hypnotic spell” – we recall some distinctive food or perhaps the smell of nature or the air. It is abstract and hard to define, and for some places the memory is more vivid than for others. I think of the Southern California sun, the dust in the Patagonia, and the salt air of the North Sea. Not able to travel there anymore, my “old love” is often on my mind. I visit it virtually, looking at photos and staying in touch with a friend. It is a magnet that wants to pull me back to a place I loved.

Wadden Sea Visitors' Center, Cuxhaven located in Northern Lower Saxony

My home leave destination, Cuxhaven in Germany is a unique area though not well known outside Germany. Nonetheless, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and during the pandemic’s travel restrictions throngs of people were attracted to it. The city of Cuxhaven is located in the area of Lower Saxony, with approximately 52,000 inhabitants, with many more visitors during summer.

Cuxhaven, about 120 km north-west of Hamburg is located at the mouth of the river Elbe and the North Sea. There are four distinct vacation areas Grimmershörn, Döse, Duhnen and Sahlenburg where we had our apartment and from where we walked to Neuwerk and to the forest. The terrain is flat that one can see “forever”. This is possibly one of the attractions for people who want to ‘escape’ the ‘concrete jungle’ or even mountains.

The city stretches along the waterfront. From the main entrance road from Hamburg and the railroad station, there is a pedestrian shopping street to the left, ending at a Museum dedicated to the humorist, poet and painter, Joachim Ringelnatz. Across the street is a small park with the Ritzebüttler Schloss (castle) from where the area was governed until 1872. The settlement was first officially recorded in 1325, and in 1394 Hamburg blockaded and then bought it. Cuxhaven became a city in 1907.

Ritzebüttler Schloss

To the right of the main road is a street along the dike and estuary leading to the harbor with its many fishing and sail boats and to the Overseas Terminal at the “Amerika Hafen”. It is named “Steubenhöft” after General Baron von Steuben, who served George Washington. It is a symbol of German - American relations. In the early years of the 20th century, big passenger ships from the Hamburg-Amerika Line regularly departed with emigrants leaving for the land of their dreams.

It now serves cruise ships and other international departures. There was also a ferry to Harwich in England which I took in 2003 to join the get-together of UNICEF retirees held in Edinburgh.

Across the estuary is a two-storey pier originally built in 1744 to serve excursion boats to go to the islands of Scharhorn, Helgoland, Neuwerk and the sandbank where the seals sun bathe. Big container ships and freighters regularly pass there on their way to or from Hamburg, as well as cruise ships like the Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mary II. The names. the freight and size of the ships, their nationalities and other details are announced over loudspeakers.

The pier is a famous viewing point Called “Alte Liebe” (Old Love).

The Magic of Alte Liebe - Old love still new after 59 years! Spouse Isabel with Horst

People wave their good-byes to their emigrating relatives and friends, and no doubt there must have been a few cases where an old love was left behind.

The German poet, Heinrich Heine, who vacationed in Cuxhaven in 1823, wrote a poem to that effect:

“At the shipyard in Kuxhaven
There is a lovely place.
It’s called the Alte Liebe (Old Love)
And I left mine there.”

Cuxhaven is a fishery center and most of the herring filets that one finds in supermarkets all over the world are canned here. There are many fish restaurants and my favorite dish is Matjes Hering, a delicacy only available in the coastal region of the North Sea. I yearn for this dish! 

Matjes

The beach areas are relatively flat and ideal for families with children to play along the shores. The landscape has been shaped by the waves and storm tides for centuries, and, until dikes and causeways were built, residents were in constant danger of floods, and thousands drowned. According to Wikipedia, the intertidal zone in the North-East part of the North Sea has a high biological diversity and this makes it among the most human altered habitats on the planet. Yet there is a magic to this landscape - or rather seascape. A particular attraction is the Wadden Sea, where at ebb tide, the sea retracts to such an extent that one can walk on the seabed for long distances and indulge in the fresh salt air, wide views, and especially spectacular sunsets. The sea floor is wavy, like a big washboard, and further out muddy. Walking on the Wadden Sea is very healthy as the mud massages one’s feet. And yes, one can actually walk to an island.

Sahlenburg Wadden Sea

A memorable challenge and experience is walking the approximately 8 km from the shore to the island of Neuwerk. We did this hike several times, but on 11 July 2010 it was actually dangerous. I was vacationing with my daughter, Anneliese and our two grandchildren (Nadia 9 and Daniel 10 years old) in Cuxhaven-Sahlenburg. We had checked the schedule of the tides every day and for that Sunday it was favorable, allowing us to consider an early morning walk to the island and back to Cuxhaven in the evening. But we stayed up late the night before as it was World Soccer Cup finals (which Spain won). Somehow, we managed to get up early, the weather looked good, and we started our excursion enthusiastically.

On the walk to Neuwerk

Keeping to the left, we followed the route marked with bush sticks. Although it is healthiest to walk barefoot, we wore rubber slippers, since there are shell-banks along the way and some mussels with sharp edges could cut your feet. Half way I saw a big detour but felt it would be faster to use the “short cut”. As required, my daughter stayed to the left, but my grandson and I went to the right. Sure enough, the water was soon up to our shoulders. My slippers started sticking in the mud, anxiety was building and I was ready to scurry back to safety. Fortuitously, treading warily, in a few steps it got shallower again and with a huge sigh of relief, we emerged from this waterhole.

There are elevated rescue stations along the way, in case somebody miscalculates the speed of the returning sea and needs to wait out the six hours or so until the tide recedes again. Instead of walking, one can also take a horse drawn carriage, which is less fun…

Island Neuwerk

We were happy but exhausted once we reached Neuwerk. Our adventure continued on the island. As we had planned to walk back in the late afternoon once the tide receded, we never thought to carry a watch. We slept a little on the dike. Clouds were forming and since we were still tired, we decided to take the ferry to Cuxhaven. We were nervous as we didn’t want to miss the boat. But how would we know the time? Thanks to the watch of a kind passer-by we got to the boat on time, bought our tickets and found a seat inside. It was a good decision - the only one that day… since there was a heavy thunderstorm once we were aboard. Walking back on the open Wadden Sea that evening would have been highly risky. One can still walk on the Wadden Sea but only at low tide.

Kugelbake

Back in Cuxhaven, the dike, a popular road to walk on, offers a panoramic view of the beach and the ships on the Elbe while enjoying a refreshing salty breeze. Several hundred years ago, to protect their homes and land, farmers built fortifications against the rising tides. Unfortunately, these dikes were repeatedly destroyed by powerful waves and had to be rebuilt. The river Elbe and the North Sea expanded and the community had no choice but to build stronger and higher dikes, sloping towards the sea. This allows the waves to break gently and roll back. A high tower-marker was built to warn ships about the shore line and the entrance to the river. It was named Kugelbake (Ball marker). The structure at the point where Elbe and North Sea meet, has become the symbol of the city. When the Kugelbake was originally built in the early 18th century, it was at the edge of land on both sides. Successive storms eroded the land and it became necessary to build sturdy fortifications to guide the river and stronger and higher dikes further inland. So the Kugelbake ended up on a little peninsular. The function of a beacon to ships was eventually moved to another light tower and a ship called Elbe 1, but the Kugelbake has become an important tourist attraction, especially since big ships pass close by.

Horst with Nadia & Daniel at the Kugelbake, Cuxhaven

When stationed in Santiago, my home leave was at Christmas time and Cuxhaven was freezing. At low tide, the little water spots iced over and it was fun to walk on them in rubber boots and hear the cracking sounds. Normally, though, it seldom snowed.

We bought an apartment and when we wanted to move in January 1976, a major storm hit the coast and the sea rose by ten meters. The dike was breached, flooding the entire area. Cars were floating in the campsite. Our apartment building was under water up to the first floor (for our North American readers, second floor!) and was only reachable by boat. It was not safe to walk to that “island”.

Besides the seashore, the Wadden Sea and the many passing ships, there is a nice forest right next to the beach with a lake and exercising possibilities, like Vita Parcour, a zip line and other recreational facilities. Beyond that, are great bicycle paths and other interesting little towns, like Cadenberge and the vacation area the Wingst, where my family found a new home in 1945.  

In closing, I share the sentiments (from another shore…) expressed by the poet Heinrich Heine in his North Sea Cycle:

Duskily fell the evening twilight,
Wilder blustered the tide,
And I sat on the shore, and gazed upon
The white dance of the billows,
And then my breast upswelled like the sea,
And longing seized me, and deep home-sickness

Horst Cerni can be reached via email  <horst.cerni@gmail.com>