Guernsey

Day 1

You can read all about my arrival day in Guernsey in my "Last day in London and Arrival in Guernsey" post, so I won't duplicate that here.


Day 2

This day the family went down to the waterfront to have lunch.  We had a very nice (but extremely filling) lunch, at a nice restaurant along the main drag of St Peter Port. 

We were hoping to go up Victoria Tower, but after lunch we were too late to get the key.  I hope I have time to do this another day.  Instead we went for a drive around the island to check out the various sights.  We stopped at a few of the beaches with Napoleanic towers and German Bunkers (from WWII).  After seeing these we went to the little chapel, where I was also able to see a Guernsey cow.

Afterwards I went back to Aunt Louise and Uncle Trevor's house for the evening.


Day 3

This morning Auntie Rosie come over to Aunt Louise's house.  We all had lunch on the patio....and of course I got sunburnt.  Luckily I was wearing my jacket, so I only got burnt on my nose and a small portion of my chest.

After lunch we went to the fish mongers (market) and picked up some lobster and sea bass for dinner.  After picking up TJ from school, we played some games in the garden (backyard).  Unfortunately, while playing baseball Aunt Louise buggered up her knee.  The worst part was that I couldn't drive her to a doctor because I can't drive a manual transmission car.  So after dinner Uncle Trevor took her to see a doctor.  For such a low-key day it ended up being very eventful!


Day 4

Today I went to Herm with Auntie Rosie - to search for puffins.  Puffins are the cutest little birds.

We saw lots of birds on Herm, but none of them were puffins.

We had a nice lunch on the beach at Herm (and of course I've gotten a small sunburn), and did a walk around the whole island - the first portion of the island was really hilly with lots of stairs, but thankfully the second half of the island was flat.

We arrived back to Guernsey in time to pick up Lily and TJ from school, then went out for an early dinner.  After dinner I went rock climbing with a group here in Guernsey.  The approach to the climb was quite scary - as you had to follow the footpath then walk down the side of the cliffs to reach the sea-level climbing crags.  I had enough time to do two climbs - both S rated, which is equivilent to the 5.4-5.7 range in North America (or so wikipedia tells me).  I'd say the climbs were likely around 5.7 because the footholds were sparse in a few places.  All of the routes on the coast here are trad, so I couldn't do any leading, but the other climbers let me climb up after they had placed the gear. It was a really neat experience to climb at sea level - especailly because part of the way through the tide started slowly creeping in.  Climbing here was a lot of fun, I had a really great time. 

All of the climbers from the Guernsey Mountaineering Club were really nice and welcoming, and it was great that even though I only had rock shoes they were ablt to outfit me with the rest of the gear I needed.  To anyone from the club that reads this, I've passed on my location and contact information on a postcard.  Should you ever been in my area of Canada, please come by and say hello.  There's good rock climbing to be had in the Rockies from June to August - so don't be strangers!


Day 5

Today was another busy day on Guernsey.  I woke up to take Lily to school, went for a drive around the island, and helped take Aunt Louise to physio…all before the time that I would normally wake up at.  After Aunt Louise was done physio; her, Auntie Rosie and I went for lunch right next to the ocean.  The lunch was quite tasty.

After dropping Aunt Louise back at home, Auntie Rosie and I went for a walk on the Guernsey High Street, checking out the shops and grabbing ingredients for dinner.  After picking up Lily and TJ from school, we zipped Lily off to Brownies and I went to watch TJ swim – he’s quite speedy in the pool, but his team doesn’t do a lot of mileage each practice.  After TJ’s swimming I said goodbye to Aunt Louise, Uncle Trevor and TJ, and returned to Auntie Rosie’s house for dinner.  What a busy day!

Day 6

This was a crazy day….filled with many delays!  After waking up and packing the remainder of my stuff, I set off for Castle Cornet (stopping at the ferry dock to find out that the ferry departure was delayed). Auntie Rosie and I went for a quick breakfast before heading to Castle Cornet.  Castle Cornet was neat, while there I got to see some “history in action” – a local theatre group takes on the personas of people from different periods, and they act out Guernsey’s history.  

After Castle Cornet we stopped back at the pier to find out the ferry had been delayed again (by now the departure had been delayed from 1:45 to 6:30).  After picking up Lily we found out that the ferry was delayed to 7:30….so we rushed to have something to eat and get back to the pier to find out….the ferry was delayed until 8:30.  Finally, when we arrived at 8 pm, the ferry was actually leaving.

Riding on a ferry was an interesting experience.  It had been delayed so many times because the seas were really rough….I think a lot of people spilt their beans along the ride.  Thankfully, my iron-clad stomach made it through.  To be honest, after we’d made out stop on Jersey (the mid-way point), I fell asleep.  I think the older couple near me from Guernsey thought it was hilarious….here I was a ferry novice schooling all the locals – fast asleep while the ship was listing and the others were retching.

Upon arriving in Saint Malo, I was taken to my hotel by a friend, of a friend, of a friend of my Aunt’s….not concerning at all!  In the end it was fine, the hotel had just what I needed – a clean bed to sleep in.