GERMANY - I could have stayed in Dover

I don't know - you come all this way and what do you get? A load of white cliffs, I could have stayed in Dover ..........

Today I have come to the Jasmund National Park just north of the port of Sassnitz (yes even that's like Dover as the ferries go to Sweden from there). What is very different though is that whilst the white cliffs of England's south coast are covered with chalk downland, here the cliffs are topped with thick beech forest.  The main point to aim for is the "King's Chair" which is a lookout point where there is also a National Park Info Centre. It's about a 7km walk along the cliffs from Sassnitz and this is through dense forest with the path occasionally dropping down into ravines where streams tumble down to the sea.

With beech being a deciduous tree it must be amazing here in the autumn. Coastal erosion is a fact of life here just as anywhere else and it leaves some of the trees clinging on to the sides of the cliffs.

I was having such a good time here that I managed to miss the train back to Prora and had to try out the local buses. The verdict - very easy to use!