Cruising throgh history; So you thought the Lake District had it all. ALAN HART sets sail in Germany and discovers the land of 1,000 lakes.

SCHADENFREUDE is a wonderful word created by the Germans. It means taking pleasure out of somebody else's misfortune.

You don't have to be German or a sadist to experience it and it doesn't have to be a malevolent feeling.

On a boating trip in the Mecklenburg region, there were plenty of opportunities to see the sunnier side of Schadenfreude.

For instance, when you've just taken two tries before successfully mooring your cabin cruiser, there's nothing better to ease your embarrassment than seeing someone else have three or four attempts. Then you can step in to catch a rope here and give a helpful shove to make new friends.

There's a natural camaraderie among the boating community. It makes the experts feel suitably smug while novices have the safety net of knowing help is nearly always at hand.

Mecklenburg, which starts some 60 miles north of Berlin, is known as the land of 1,000 lakes. It's also at the heart of more than 1,000 miles of navigable waterways with rivers and canals making it the largest connected lakeland in central Europe.

Crown Blue Line, of Portsmouth, has three bases in Germany, as well as foreign facilities at marinas in France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Ireland.

We chose the Marina Wolfsbruch, near Rheinsberg, for our journey in a Classique cabin cruiser. It's a roomy eight-berth boat which you can steer from the sundeck in fair weather and from inside in foul.

The Classique has two separate showers and toilets with its own cooking facilities, a spacious central saloon, CD player and lockable safe. It's 42 feet long and 13ft 6ins wide.

Like the English Lake District, there's no guarantee of good weather in Mecklenburg. We went in the last week of September and for the first four days, we were in tee-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, smothered in Factor 15 suntan lotion. For the last two days, we were swaddled in sweaters, hats and anoraks.

In between, we experienced all four seasons in one day.

Regardless of the weather, we were given a warm welcome everywhere by a friendly people who, less than 20 years ago, belonged to Soviet-controlled East Germany.

They still lag behind their new fellow countrymen in terms of worldliness and linguistics, but they are catching up in leaps and bounds.

Charm It can only be a matter of time before the signs for McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut spring up but, for now at least, the area still has a naive charm and little in the way of noisy nightlife.

Our first port of call was Mirow in Western Pomerania, established by the Knights of St John, who built a priory in 1227.

In 1712, a palace was completed here and later in the century Princess Sophie Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of MecklenburgStrelitz, married Britain's King George III.

In Mirow we found the Mecklenburger Hof, a family-owned hotel restaurant where, joy of joys, they were showing live Premiership football featuring Manchester United and Chelsea on the television in the bar.

A two-course meal for four, including drinks, came to a modest pounds 56.

We had ordered fresh bread and croissants from the quayside shop for next day's breakfast and lunch.

With essential supplies such as beer, wine, gin and brandy, together with cheese, salami and ham, already bought from a super-markein Rheinsberg on arrival, we were self-sufficient for the week, apart from our evening meals ashore.

Next stop was at Roebel on the south-west coast of the Mueritz, Germany's largest lake which covers more than 70 square miles.

Like our previous destination, Roebel has a British connection, having been founded in 1226 by Heinrich Borwin II, Lord of Rostock, who was married to Princess Christine, daughter of King William of Scotland.

Its name is derived, like many places in Mecklenburg, from Slavic words. They illustrate how, in previous centuries, immigrants had drifted north-west to settle here.

Roebel has many of the region's typical characteristics with multi-coloured halftimbered houses and two impressive 13th-centurchurches built when rival bishops were trying to stake their claims prior to the Lutheran reformation.

Its natural harbour contains modern sculptures of a bearded fisherman looking out to Mueritz See past three particularly ugly mermaids.

In Roebel, we had our most memorable meal at the Gasthaus Zum Mueritzhof. We were greeted enthusiastically by the maitre d', Olaf Granzow, a camp character who asked his regulars to squeeze up "to give our English friends some room."

I thought this would make us highly unpopular, but the opposite was true. The food was excellent and prices were modest.

Next up was Waren on the north of the lake. Archeological discoveries show the first inhabitants arrived here after the Ice Age 10,000 years ago. The Mueritzeum Visitor Centre (pounds 5 for adults; pounds 2 for children from 6-16) gives details of the area's history, including the time when the Slavic Obotrite tribes were in control.

They were pagans but the area converted to Christianity after Saxon Duke Heinrich the Lion defeated Prince Niklot in 1160.

Nevertheless the prince's descendants, now officially Christians, ruled Mecklenburg as dukes and grand dukes for the next 753 years until the monarchy was abolished in 1918.

At the museum, you can also learn about the Mueritz National Park, where acres of land surrounding the lake provide a habitat for wild boars and brown bears.

While the lake has perfect conditions for the ospreys we watched diving for fish, the adjoining land is patrolled by eagles hunting small mammals.

Between October and November, thousands of cranes pause here to trumpet their presence as they take a breather on the migration route from Scandinavia to Spain. In August, the lake shores provide a summer holiday break for storks on their way to Africa.

Waren also has a marine museum (Open daily, pounds 2) where German naval uniforms and maritime memorabilia are on display.

Cultural visits can be thirsty work and we found a beautiful beer garden at Kneipe Amboss in the old town. The garden contains a wishing well and is illuminated at night. Indoors, ancient farm machinery and a smiling landlady provided a cheerful ambience in the bar.

The next morning, we left for Plau am See which, as its name suggests, lies on the bank of a lake. Plauer See is 40 miles long and from here it's possible to reach Hamburg to the west or Berlin to the south.

We only had time for another marvellous meal at the Gasthaus Pagels, then we had to set off back to our base at Marina Wolfsbruch.

Before returning home, we squeezed in a brief tour of the German capital.

Large parts of Berlin were destroyed by Allied bombs during World War II, but it has managed to renovate much of the old and mix it tastefully with the new.

Where Mecklenburg offers peace and quiet, Berlin is big and brash with a wide range of entertainment from Wagner at the Opera House to the legendary Kit Kat Club, immortalised in the Oscar-winning movie Cabaret.

The Kit Kat has moved from its former home at the Schultheiss Brewery in Templehof to the Sage Club at Koepenicker Strasse in the centre of the Mitte district. I'm assured the move has not affected its lascivious, libertine reputation.

But me, my heart was still back in the land of 1,000 lakes.

fact file

Crown Blue Line rent out. their eight-berth Classique in Germany from pounds 970 a week. For more information click www.leboat.co.uk or ring 0239 2224252.

We flew to Berlin from. Liverpool with easyJet. They also fly there from Belfast, Bristol, Gatwick, Glasgow, Luton and Newcastle. Prices start from around pounds 33 return including taxes. Click www.easyJet.com for details.

For further information on. Germany, click www.germanytourism.co.uk.

CAPTION(S):

CULTURE: The north German town of Waren sits on the edge of the lakes ALL ABOARD: A Crown Blue Line cruiser out on the waterways of Mecklenburg, north of Berlin TRANQUIL: Besides the water at Mirow