Guernsey (Channel Islands)

...like when I went to Guernsey in August 2005.

I have written the majority of this review from my own experiences, rather than giving you lots of facts about Guernsey that you could read about in any travel guide.

INTRODUCTION
The Channel Islands consists of a group of 5 small islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Herm and Alderney. Guernsey is the second largest of these islands and is 24sq miles in size. St Peters ...
...thought. We are going to Guernsey at a bad time. As we approached Guernsey I could see across the island lots of bright white lights glaring up at us, and as we got lower down I realised it was where the sunlight was catching the many greenhouses that Guernsey has.

As we stepped off the plane the temperature didn't feel much different from what it did back home, however I had left Stansted Airport with thick rain clouds and here there ... more

Isn't it annoying when you go on holiday to a place you have never been before for 1 week and by the time you are approaching the end of that week you feel you are just starting to really get into the spirit of things, you've found out so much more that you feel you could do with another week. Well this was what it felt like when I went to Guernsey in August 2005.

I have written the majority of this review from my own experiences, rather than giving you lots of facts about Guernsey that you could read about in any travel guide.

INTRODUCTION
The Channel Islands consists of a group of 5 small islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Herm and Alderney. Guernsey is the second largest of these islands and is 24sq miles in size. St Peters Port is the main part of Guernsey and has a harbour there. It is at St Peters Port where me and my husband stayed.

DAY 1
From Stansted Airport it was a 1hr flight to Guernsey. We went on the airline Algriny which is a company this specifically does flights to and from the Channel Islands. It was a small jet plane holding just 60 passengers. On the flight we were handed a newspaper called the 'Guernsey Press'. So I shot straight to the weather page to find out the weather forecast. It said August 19th (today) Fair, August 20th Overcast with showers, some heavy at times, August 21st Heavy Showers. Oh no, I thought. We are going to Guernsey at a bad time. As we approached Guernsey I could see across the island lots of bright white lights glaring up at us, and as we got lower down I realised it was where the sunlight was catching the many greenhouses that Guernsey has.

As we stepped off the plane the temperature didn't feel much different from what it did back home, however I had left Stansted Airport with thick rain clouds and here there was not a cloud in sight. Guernsey Airport is small, but very modern. It's a new airport that was built only a couple of years ago. Collecting the luggage was a very quick easy process and the airport seemed very calm and there were few people about.

We had an adventurous journey up to our hotel in St Peters Port. We got a mini bus up to our hotel and the driver had to drop off two other groups of people at there hotels first which were in quieter parts of Guernsey, but as many roads in Guernsey are extremely narrow it caused quite a few problems getting the mini bus up to the hotel grounds as we met several cars coming in the other direction.

We were pleasantly surprise with our hotel when we arrived. We were staying at The Moores Hotel. It looked very pleasant from the outside and very classy on the inside. We had a friendly reception and caught a glimpse of the conservatory area on our way up to our room where all the meals were served and this had a really light pleasant feel. Overall we were very pleased with this hotel.

DAY 2
Our first stop was to the Tourist Information. We were pleased to find it open on a Sunday and found many interesting leaflets - one of which was on Condor Express Ferry day trips to Jersey. Now before we went to Guernsey we had looked on the internet wondering if we should book the ferry in advance. The price on there was £40 return per person. But we were glad we waited as in the leaflet it said it was just £28 return per person. We also considered a flight to Jersey but that would have been £90 return per person so knocked that idea on the head straight away.

St Peters Port harbour is just on the other side of the road to the Tourist Information. As we walked over here we noticed a very impressive sand castle standing about 2 metres tall on the harbour wall. It had apparently been built back in May so had been there nearly 4 months. I was glad we took a photo of it because a couple of days later it finally started to collapsed following there first spell of very wet weather.

At the Harbour booking office we arranged to go to Jersey on day 4 of our holiday (which was the day of my birthday as a special treat). It was booked to leave Guernsey at 9.40am and leave Jersey at 8.40pm.

Now St Peters Port is on the east coast of Guernsey and it's the east and south coast that is the hilly part of Guernsey with the North and West being quite flat. So when we decided to take a walk to Fermain Bay which was a 2 mile walk along the east coast you can imagine how we must of felt or should I say how I felt at the end of it. All I can say is that this is a great walk, but don't attempt it unless you are feeling fit. Because to get to every beach in this area you have to walk down a long steep coastal path and to come away from the beach you have to walk up on. The walk took 1 ½ hours at a steady pace and I have to say, as tired as I was it was well worth it. Fermain Bay is the most picturesque part of Guernsey. I suddenly felt I was in the tropics with the clear blue sea, and white sand. It was unbelievable. There is a café called 'The Beach Café' situated her and the food was exceptional with good presentation and service. I could of sat there all day watching the little twinkling stars that caught each wave from the sunlight but it was time to make that dreaded walk back up the hill.

This time we decided to walk back a different way not following the cliffs edge but going slightly more inland. Here we stopped off at a War Memorial Cemetery. Following this I have to say I have never seen such big houses with incredibly large colourful gardens. This was definitely were some of the many Guernsey Millionaire's live.

We decided to try out a restaurant that was directly opposite our hotel called Christies. It offers a 3 course meal for just £10.95 if you get there before 6.30pm but the catch is that you have to be out of the restaurant by 8pm which wasn't so good. Here they have live music most nights and we got a window seat which overlooked the hotel and some of St Peters Port Town. The food there was great and the live music so good that often people walking through the town would stop to listen.

DAY 3
Today we decided we would visit a few places in St Peters Port. So in the morning we did a short 10 minute walk from our hotel, up to the Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery. One thing we noticed with this Museum and with the others that were to follow was that even in the peak summer season, because Guernsey is such a small island there are never many crowds anywhere so when you visit a Museum you can walk around at your own pace and not feel pressured in anyway. It was £3.50 per person and you could easily spend a couple of hours in there. There was also showing in there a video of Guernsey people and what it was like for them in World War 2. There is a shop and a restaurant. I would class the food in here as average, but its well worth visiting as you will get amazing views from the restaurant through the lovely gardens and down into St Peters Port harbour.

In the afternoon, we went and visited the house that would have been Victor Hugo's many years ago. In this house he wrote many books including Les Miserables. There was quite a few French people wanting to see the house and I think out of all the places we went this was the only one that was busy. It cost £4 for a guided tour and we was very surprised to find out that the tour would be 1 hour long so it seemed good value for money. We waited in his garden before being called in for the tour. There were about 10 people in our group for the tour.

DAY 4
Well today was the day of my birthday and I was up at the crack of dawn. I couldn't wait to go to Jersey. We had to be at the harbour 45mins before departure time which mean't we was to get there by 8.55am. We went to hand in our tickets and was told there was no Condor Ferry going to Jersey today as it had technical problems. I have to admit I was quite upset, however that soon changed when we found out we could re-book for day 6 of our holiday, so that's what we did. Oh well, what a start to my birthday. So we decided instead that we would get a bus and explore some other parts of Guernsey so we got the bus to the south of the island and went to the German Underground Hospital. Now a word of warning - don't go there without something warm on because you will freeze to death like I did. Never the less it didn't stop me enjoying going through the underground tunnels and seeing where many of the French were taken after D-Day. As of yet there has been no refurbishment done on this place so everything is as it was. You get to see the casualties wards, the place they did operations, escape shafts and much more. It takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour to see the whole place and cost £3.00 per person. There is no café there.

From there we took a 20 minute walk to the German Occupation Museum at £3.50 each. This has a café and outside garden. There were video's shown and lots of interesting memorabilia.

From there we took a 10 minute walk down to Petit Bot Bay which was very nice although nothing I don't think would beat Fermain Bay. Here we sat in the café which had a sea view.

We got back on the bus and discovered that buses here charge 50p for whether you want to go. So the bus we are on takes you right round the island and because we didn't stop we went right round for just 50p. It took about an hour. What an incredible price! We nearly didn't get back though. The bus had a near miss round the tight bend and narrow roads that Guernsey has. It is really not built for big buses.

That evening we went to the Bistro One restaurant again, and had a nice view of the harbour and wondered if our ferry would go alright.

DAY 5
Today was our first rainy day and boy did it rain hard. So our first stop was to the Beach Café just across the road from the hotel. We went in there and had a hot chocolate to warm ourselves up and watch everyone else getting caught out in the rain. We took a moment to look through our travel book. Today was a day we decided to do as much as we could indoors. So we decided to get a bus up to the Sumerez Manor. We arrived there at 11.45am and realised we had missed there last morning tour. They have tours at 10.30am, 11.30am and 2pm. There were a few other things to be seen in the grounds of the manor but because it was raining so hard we decided to take shelter in the café there. It had a lovely country feel out here and there were many ducks and hens just outside the door attempting to make there way into the café every now and then. The café's roof was leaking and we struggled to find a seat that wasn't wet. Before long a few drips of rain every now and then fell on us. As I looked up I noticed a grape vine was growing in there as well. Very traditional out in Guernsey. Well we managed to drag out our 2hrs in there. It was quite adventurous what with the birds and the rain that it kept us entertained.
The tour consisted of just me and my husband. Most people apparently saw the house in the morning so we had a private tour of our own. A lovely gentleman showed us around the house and it was very informative and interesting.

From here we then took the bus to the Shipwreck Museum at Fort Grey. The journey up there though was horrendous. We had a learner bus driver with his assistant guiding him, plus the bus was so crowded that many of us had to stand, and no sooner had we gone a few yards down the road, and the bus driver slammed his foot down on the brake so hard that we all went flying forward - fortunately no one got hurt, but it wasn't long before more drama happened on board the bus as the lady who was standing behind me fainted. She clasped to the floor and the bus driver had to stop the bus - fortunately slowly this time. The lady had her sister with her who said she was pregnant and had been prone to fainting and so when the lady came too she escorted her off the bus where they called for an ambulance.

There was a bus stop right outside Fort Grey Museum which was very convenient and the exhibition was held inside a tall Martello Tower. We spent about half an hour there and headed back to the bus stop. We didn't have to wait long before another bus arrived and this took us round the rest of the island and back to the town at St Peters Port. We was lucky to get back in one piece however as the bus had a near miss with a parked car as it clipped the edge of what sounded like the mirror of a car as it was going past, and the bus driver had to stop suddenly to check the damage.

That night we went to the Riva Restaurant on the seafront. It was an interesting restaurant as every 15 minutes the lights would change colour from a blue to a red, then perhaps to an orange or yellow. This created a different feel to the place and made it individual. The food was lovely and we had a view of the harbour, although we felt the tables were placed a bit too closely together. For 2 main meals, 2 desserts and 2 drinks it came to approx £40.

When we got back to the hotel we had a phone call from the ferry company. They said the ferry is still having problems. It would be leaving Guernsey at a later time of 10.30am and that there was a chance that if the ferry problems became more serious we may not get back to Guernsey. So we was in a dilemma whether to go or not.

DAY 6
Well we decided to take a chance and do our day trip to Jersey seeing as it was part of my birthday treat. The departure lounge is great because it has good views out to sea and of the entry into the harbour, so there was lots to watch while we waited. The ferry arrived at 10.55am but it was due to arrive at 10.30am. Due to the problems the ferry was having it couldn't go as fast as normal. Despite this however we arrived into Jersey at 12pm.

Jersey is also a lovely island, not perhaps quite as scenic as Guernsey, but still very pleasant. There are also a lot more people there than in Guernsey so you don't get that same relaxed, calm feeling and also if you want to visit a gallery or go in a shop you are more likely to experience queues, where as in Guernsey you can visit practically anywhere and have just a pleasant amount of people about.

The main reason I wanted to go to Jersey was because many items on the Channel Islands you don't have to pay VAT on. I had my heart set on a watch worth £1500 but knew if I could find it here I would get it for £300 less. To my delight I did find it, saved myself £300 and this helped to cover some of the costs of the holiday.

The ferry was due to leave at 8.35pm so we got to the harbour on time to find out that it was running late due to the technical problems the ferry had, and it would not arrive until 11.30pm. We wasn't happy, however glad that at least we knew we would get back to Guernsey even if it was later than planned. The departure lounge here wasn't so nice as there was no area like there was at Guernsey to watch the harbour.

However something very interesting happened…..as we were waiting a couple came and sat just to the left of us on the opposite side and my husband whispered to me, 'I think that's Helen Mirren!' I had only seen her in the 'Calendar Girls' film before and because she was very casually dressed and had no make-up on I wasn't sure, but after a few more glances we both decided it was her, and the man sitting next to her we found out later was her bodyguard.

Well we couldn't believe our luck. The ferry in the end didn't leave until 1.45am and we boarded with Helen Mirren just in front of us. I kept saying to my husband - if this is Helen Mirren then how come she hasn't got crowds of people coming up to her asking for her autograph, but I have to say I did see several people looking at her probably saying to each other 'is that Helen Mirren' in total disbelief. I suppose she wasn't quite as well know then as she is now she has been in 'The Queen'.

The sea was really rough going back to Guernsey and I didn't dare to get up off my seat and have a walk round as the ferry was swaying about all over the place. There were a few brave souls walking about but they walked in a drunken manor which was quite funny. I was quite glad when we finally arrived back in Guernsey but sad to leave Helen Mirren, who got on a coach with several other people to a hotel they were staying at in Guernsey.

The main entrance to our Hotel closed at 12am, but we was told not to worry if we got back late as the porter would let us in. So we rang the door bell and there was no answer…..rang again still no answer, and we were starting to think we would be sleeping out on the street for the night, until 5 minutes later the door finally opened. It appeared the porter was fast asleep which was why he didn't hear the door bell ring.

DAY 7
Today we was to return home. We had to leave the hotel at 5am in the morning as our flight back home was at 7.30am. Once again the simple task of going down stairs with our luggage to leave the hotel wasn't so straight forward. When we arrived downstairs the porter who would let us out of the hotel was fast asleep on the settee. We didn't know what to do, we thought should we wake him up, or should we accidentally make a noise and hope it wakes him. Well we went with the second option and fortunately it worked. The mini bus was on time and away we went. As we was leaving early in the morning the roads weren't busy so we didn't have the adventurous journey like we did when we arrived in Guernsey, but then again our whole holiday seemed full of adventures and I think although Guernsey is a nice quiet, scenic and relaxing place, it is also a place where a lot can happen in just one short week. I would certainly return there again.

SUMMARY
1. Don't book a ferry trip on the internet - wait until you get to Guernsey.
2. The Moores Hotel - great hotel by the sea and in the heart of St Peters Port town, where there are lots of lovely restaurants to choose from. Highly recommended, but watch out for the sleeping porter.
3. No VAT so if you have something expensive to buy then get it here.
4. Beware of the fact you are putting your life at risk on there narrow roads, and the use of the bus service will definitely prove to be adventurous.
5. It only costs 50p to travel on the bus right around the island, and this is highly recommended.

Thanks for reading
Sarah
 

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