Day Five - St Martin, Guernsey - 7 April

It was a long day of travelling for us. We left our B&B at Shanklin at six o’clock and arrived at our hotel at St Martin, Guernsey at six in the evening. The local taxi took us to the far end of the jetty at Ryde to catch the ferry back to Portsmouth. The tide was way out and we could see why the ferry was so long.

We spent about an hour and a half on the “mainland” as the Isle of Wight people call it until we got onto our Condor ferry to Guernsey. The ferry left at nine o’clock and arrived at about four thirty at the capital of Guernsey, St Peter Port. It was a calm trip in a very comfortable boat. We sat in the lounge/dining area which had a cafeteria. It was very tempting. Well, it was for me. Henk is still getting over his tummy bug so food is not high on his agenda. However, he has greatly improved and coped well with today’s travelling. He would have had trouble yesterday if he had to travel.

On arrival at St Peter Port we were immediately struck by the French influence in the architecture. This seems to jar with the strong English accents we are hearing. We worked out the bus system via the Visitor Information Centre and caught a bus which took us very close to our hotel, La Villette. We will be staying here for eight nights. Dinner tonight was in the hotel and it was heaving with people. We’re not sure if they are guests of the hotel or just the locals on a Saturday evening. The food was a very good and we can see the French influence. The weather is still cold. Tomorrow we start exploring Guernsey. Photos: Early morning at Ryde at low tide; Coming into St Peter Port.