All of the sudden plans changed in late July when my mother had a stroke and the family pulled together to organize her care and help my dad with health and travel insurance, planning a change of hospitals and starting of a post-stroke program in a rehabilitation clinic in Damp. My goal was to spend some time with my mother in between treatments, to monitor her progress, help when it was needed and communicate this with other family members. Expecting to have a fair amount of spare time in between I took some knitting and spinning with me and thinking too, that may be my mom might be interested to try. My accommodation was on a campsite in a caravan a 12 minute bike ride from the clinic. Campground Dorotheental was very well kept and pretty with trees, hedges, clean washrooms and showers. One side led to horse-riding stables and a playground and the other side to a pebbly beach and views across the Eckernfoerde Bay.

Campground Dorotheental

My home for 9 days

Even though I had Wifi access I had only traveled with my old iPad and Android phone. The WordPress App is very slow when used on the iPad, I dislike typing on the screen and I have not found a way to add Google photos to the iPad photo library. May be the Android would have been an option, but still typing on the small screen is arduous. In the end I was surprisingly busy with taking care of myself, biking to the clinic for the morning, biking back for lunch and a short break and back to the resort for the afternoon. My mom loves walking and taking pictures and by 7:30 pm I was just happy to sit down, make dinner, read or knit a little and go to sleep. There wasn’t as much crafting time as I had imagined. As enjoyable as the location and surroundings were the weather for early to mid August was disappointing: cold and rainy. I felt sorry for the other campers who came to enjoy their summer vacation. It is no fun to be drenched and then live in a cold and clammy tent with no real option to dry out. It showed as half of the campsites surrounding our caravan left the weekend after my arrival and remained empty. Being in a caravan was infinitely more pleasant with a heater – which I felt the need to use a few nights when temperatures dropped below 10 C/50 F despite a few layers of clothes and a down sleeping bag – and the rain staying outside.

everything is soggy

rain pounding the caravan next door

These photos barely show the extent of the rain. But we had nice, sunny hours in between and just when I was leaving summer returned to the region. During our daily walks we found a pond with a seagull nest with two young ones and a coot swimming with its offspring. Great photo inspiration for my mom who is steadily regaining her speech and activities she enjoys. We enjoyed the very German afternoon coffee and cake almost daily and had a chance to relax with a great view. Interestingly, the waffles and coffee/tea at this casual outdoor cafe, the main floor of a Lifeguard station,  were served with better service than at the full-service Cafe where we waited one day for more than 45 minutes before we left.

Young seagull

German Lifeguard station with cafe

View of Promenade and beach

Delicious Belgian waffles

These weeks in the seaside village of Damp with my mother were relaxing and uplifting. They gave me the peace of mind to return to my life in the UAE.

Until next time (I promise not to wait as long)

Maike