Only low tide could clear the footpath from the small lighthouse island, surrounded by the North Sea, across to the village. The other way lead through the dreaded raised bog, over unsteady oak boards blackened by the brackish water and severe surging storms. This wave-washed wooden jetty picked to pieces by the sea innumerable times. Repaired just as often by carpenters' hands, rescued, and eventually, abandoned. An oak plank forms the body of VAREL.