who hiked a muddy hike and rode a bike along a dyke.

On Saturday, we woke up early to go on a hike through the Wattenmeer. The Wattenmeer is an endless expanse of mud, which clears up when the tide goes out. Some of it is sandy mud, that you only sink into a bit, but other parts are patches of slurpy mud that you can sink all the way into. You have to go wattwandering with a guide, because sometimes people have to be rescued from the Wattenmeer by helicopters. The guides keep a pretty close watch on you. Ours was 18, and his name was Luke. He walked us through the sand and mud, showing us the worms and crabs that were swimming and sloppering all around us. Then we came to the Schliklauch, where a few of us ventured to get really, really muddy. The Schliklauch is actually quite a bit like the fire swamp, minus R.O.U.S.es and fire. But right before you get sucked in almost up to your hips, the mud pops around you. It's not enough of a warning to skeedaddle through glomps of glunky mud, but it prepares you a bit. German movie stars actually get covered in this muddy stuff when they come on vacation to Sylt; the microorganisms do wondrous things for your skin (or so Luke told us).

Sunday, we biked 13 kilometers along this dyke, with water on both sides, to an old Friesian house. The dyke curved in a smooth arch, but somehow we it seemed that we were always pedaling directly against the sea wind. It made for a hard bike ride, but the sea air was crisp and cool, with just a taste of salt in it. Bleating sheep lined our parade route, lazing about munching on grass and sometimes sprawling out across the bike path.