Not so far north of Sellin we reached our destination of Jasmund National Park where Uta and I really enjoyed our walk throught the towering beech forests to the coast. The trees are so close together that in places no light gets through and in general nothing grows on the forest floor. As there were so few people, we could truly appreciate the peace and quiet and of course the magnificence of these trees, many hundreds of years old.
After about 3 kms we arrived at the Koenigstuehl centre and from there headed upwards to a lookout point (118 m) over the white chalk cliffs. Very impressive.
Here you can see them better without me blocking the view!
Sadly, or perhaps luckily, the steps down to the beach had been damaged by a slip, so we could not go down. Instead we continued on the upper track along the coast, through more of this majestic forest, before turning inland back to the car. We walked a good distance and thoroughly deserved the 'Fischbroetchen' at the end of it. It is so strange for us to be eating fish in a roll instead of with chips. I do prefer chips, I must say.
Next stop was a walk to an area of special stones, Feuerstein, which it appears had been deposited in this particular spot by some huge waves - I do not have the full story
I am not sure what I was expecting at the end of the 2.5 km walk through the forest on well trodden sandy paths, but it was certainly quite fascinating to suddenly come to this open area covered in these very ancient stones.
The last stop we made was undoubtedly the highlight of the day for me, particularly bearing in mind my extreme fear of heights. I had seen pictures and was pretty sure I would make it to the top of the 40 metre tower and certainly the entire construction of this Baumwipfelpfads is such that everyone, young, old, handicapped, with pushchairs, etc, can enjoy the fabulous experience. The building has absolutely no steps and from start to finish is a series of spiral ramps connected by wooden bridges. The final ramp is over one kilometer long and goes up so gradually that you hardly realise you sre climbing. Through the centre of the tower there is a 30 m high beech tree and all along there are relly interesting exhibits about the flora and fauna in the area.
At first I was loathe to go to the edge of the viewing platform which was swaying gently in the wind, but after a while I really started to enjoy the views and got braver! It must get really windy up there at times and I can inagibe how crowded it must be in summer. In a coupke of weeks itvwill be even more spectacular as the leaves change colour!you can just make out the chalk cliffs in the distance.
The construction is a masterpiece and what is especially great is that it is barely visible from elsewhere.
The end of a very varied and interesting day!
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