On the boat.

June 1. 

 Flybe airlines from Amsterdam to Dartmouth.  Visiting with Guy and Geraldine.  We will try for a cross-Channel voyage.  Previous attempts were frustrated by weather and illness.  Regardless, it is lovely to be here with them.  View from their deck showing marina and ferry dock:

home cooking.  melon and prosciutto, pasta

Sunday June 2

We packed and readied the boat. Pub dinner of Cumberland sausages and mashed potatoes.  We had a safety briefing and were fitted for life vests.  We mastered the pump toilet.  Our quarters are in the bow angling in feet to feet.  We slept on board in anticipation of an early start.



Monday June 3

We were awakened at 6:00 and cast off at 6:30. The time is dictated by the tides.  Our boat is Indian Summer,  a  motor yacht.

Starting  in the bow is our room.  Aft is the toilet and galley with a dining area. Aft of that, up three stairs is the saloon with comfortable seating for six.  Down a couple of steps in the stern is the main bedroom with a queen sized bed.  Up a few stairs in the stern is the cockpit.

We had an uneventful crossing to Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.  The Channel Islands are part of the British Isles, but they are not in the UK or the EU.  They are Crown Dependencies so that their loyalty is to the Crown and not to Parliament.  This governmental organization dates from 1215.  For fun words, Guernsey is a bailiwick, run by bailiffs.

Dinner at "the Restaurant" in the Beaucet Marina:  lobster and shrimp salad, turbot.

Tues June 4 
 Our favorite red suitcase could no longer be repaired with duct tape and the new black one developed splayed wheels making it very hard to pull. Thus, today we shopped and have new suitcases.  We also bought unlocked phones.

We did our shopping in the town, St Peter Port which is a charming town.

We were evicted from an Italian restaurant when we ordered an eleven inch pizza and asked to share it.  Ended up eating at the Library Pub.

We visited "Guernsey's Story"' a large 10 panel embroidery on 16 to the inch canvas.  It is an interesting piece of history and a remarkable piece of handcraft.  While it had a single designer, it was sewn all over the Island. Each parish did a panel.  It was stitched a few stitches by some and worked by many accomplished embroiderers.

The stern gland on the boat needs attention.  Guy sat around all day waiting for the repairman.  He never showed.  We enjoyed a Scotch.  He never showed.  We finally gave up at around 8:30 and Guy cooked dinner.   Ground meat kabobs from the Sainsbury's.  Not bad.

Wed June 5  Herm

  We took a 25 minute ferry boat from Guernsey to Herm, another island in the Guernsey Bailiwick.  It is small; one can walk the entire coast in about 2 hours.  We saw this stone age tomb:

 
Lots of flowers.  These are called Guernsey Lilies:

  We took a trail down the middle of the island that led to the South Cliffs Trail. 
This was more difficult than we should have attempted, but quite scenic:

June 6

We took the ferry to Sark, another Channel Island.   Sark is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, but with its own parliament and laws.  It has a permanent population so 50+.  There is much quiet and beauty.

Sark has no cars, only tractors and horses.  We took the "bus" pulled by a tractor up the hill.  We walked around looking for a open place for a cup of tea.  We ended ip at the garden where we ate lunch, pate sandwich,

Then we visited the garden, beautiful, English style.

 We then contracted for a two hour horse cart ride around the island.

On our return to St Peter Port,  coming off the pier, we stopped at a plaque that memorializes three Holocaust victims. They are women from Austria and Poland working here.  These are apparently the only victims of the Holocaust that came from the Channel Islands.  They died at Auschwitz. 

We went back to the marina restaurant:  liver and onions; scallops and prawns.

June 7

We spent most of the day preparing for a departure tomorrow for Paimpol.  Guy spent hours charting our course.  We must have the same a high tide to leave Beaucette and enter Paimpol or we will be stranded outside and we must have waves that are not too high for Indian Summer and there are currents....   Geraldine does things to prepare the boat.  At noon, the boat is moved across the marina to the gas pumps.  The cost to fill the two tanks with diesel is about  375 liters.  Geraldine double checks the navigation.

We did laundry for the four of us while this is happening.  This requires going up the ramp and hen down a another set of stairs.  The ramp is 20 or so feet higher or lower, depending  upon the tide.

At around 3:00, we take a taxi into town, letting the Leigh's off to shop while we go to the Occupation museum, at the south end of Guernsey and near the airport.

The British Channel Islands were the only part of the Britain to be occupied by the enemy during WWII.  The Museum is a hodgepodge of artifacts like Nazi uniforms, decrees, ration books, and firearms.  As the Germans advance, the children and men of military age were evacuated.  There was a substantial German garrison.  About 20,000 Russians were imported to build fortifications.  Toward the end, in February 1945, the Germans stopped bringing in food and Guernsey faced starvation and was rescued by an emergency shipment of food by the Red Cross.

We then took the bus into St Peter Port where we joined Guy and Geraldine at a roof terrace restaurant for a drink.  We dined at the excellent marina restaurant for a third time, Leslie having steak Rossini and Bruce the prawn and lobster salad.