We're now in Brittany at St Quay Portrieux about 35 miles west of St Malo. Decided to bypass St Malo as we're keen to see smaller ports and we've been to St Malo before - although it is a wonderful town. Also crossing directly here from Jersey saves us a day's travelling so hopefully will enable us to get to south Brittany earlier.
We greatly enjoyed the Channel Islands - definitely recommend a visit. Friends Geoff and Shirley joined us in Guernsey and we set off immediately for Sark about 10 miles east of Guernsey. Wonderful, peaceful island - no cars! Just to the west of Sark is the island of Brecqhou owned by the Barclay brothers - owners (last I heard) of 10% of InterContinental Hotels!! They've built an extraordinary castle there - quite weird.
Next day off the Dielette on the French coast SW of Cherbourg - another lovely small port - great moules et frite!! But no shops so had to walk 2k to nearest village - luckily caught a bus back. Following day sailed back towards Sark and Herm but too rough to anchor overnight so went back to Guernsey. Sailed over to Herm on Sunday and anchored up for a few hours so we could walk around the island - its only about 1 mile by 1/2 mile! Getting in the an anchorage is quite tricky as the island is surrounded by rocks and the tides are fairly strong but GPS and electronic chartplotters are a great help. Scenery is magnificent - wonderfully unspoilt (again no cars) with beautiful wild flowers. The island is leased by Guernsey to private individuals - at one time the author Sir Compton MacKenzie.
Unfortunately Shirley had to return to work on Sunday (well I suppose someone has to) but Geoff was able to stay on for the trip to Jersey. Another beautiful day and a great sail. This is an exceptional period of good weather - not only sunny but winds almost perfect for sailing.
We'd been told that Jersey was much more commercial than the other islands and so it is but away from the capital St Helier there is lovely peaceful countryside and charming hamlets. Geoff and I cycled round the island (about 40 miles) - Geoff is in training for a cycling holiday so had no difficulty but I took a few short cuts! Great scenery and great food - especially seafood and of course Jersey Royals (new potatoes). Would be a great place to retire to!
Met up with some ski friends here - Doug who lives here and who kindly took Helen around the island (she preferred being driven around to cycling with Geoff and me) and another friend Mike who Helen met when she was a ski rep in Andorra - small world!!
Geoof left for the UK on Wed and so Thursday 0600 Helen and I set off for France (high tide was at 0430 and we had to get out the marina early while there was still enough water over the sill at the entrance). Terrific sail and arrived in St Quay to begin the Brittany leg of our tour. Friends from Australia, Steve and Peta, are arriving Saturday (from Burgundy where they spend their (Northern hemisphere) summers on the canals on a fantastic Dutch barge. Look fwd to catching up with them. Next blog will update on the N Brittany coast. Also, will add some photos from Channel Islands shortly.
Hope everyone's well.
Iain and Helen
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