Day 10 Sark

 

After an early breakfast we caught the bus to St Peter Port (only £1 each) and had a short walk along the main shopping area and then the harbour before getting the 10:00 ferry across to Sark.  This ferry is also used to ship provisions for the islanders so there were some big boxes of food, water and even a sack barrow full of toilet rolls being loaded.  We chose seats inside but it was sunny and warm so I went outside for most of the trip.

Sark is almost 2 islands but not quite.  There is Great Sark which is where the harbour and village are situated and then there is a causeway over to Little Sark.  The guidebook said that eventually the natural causeway will erode and make Sark into 2 islands but that hasn’t quite happened yet.  The natural causeway has been improved to allow tractors to cross and has railings each side for safety.  The only motorised vehicles on the island are tractors.  Even the bus is pulled by a tractor.  There are a lot of farms there and we saw plenty of cattle and sheep.  It was like going back in time.

The crossing only took about 40 minutes and was very smooth.  We passed the island of Brecqhou which belongs to Sark and is owned by David and Frederick Barclay, owners of the Ritz Hotel in London.  They have renovated the castle but very little is known about it as they have kept it secret and any knowledge of it has come from planes flying over or from boats sailing close by.

Ferry to Sark

Brecqhou Island

Castle on Brecqhou Island


We caught the island bus up the hill to Sark Village centre and then went to collect our bikes.  We ordered mountain bikes as we had read that the terrain is very stony and rough and we were right.  There were several main tracks across the islands which can be cycled on but when these tracks came to an end we had to leave the bikes leaning against the hedges and walk across lovely grassy footpaths to view points or other points of interest. 




Entrance to Sark from Port

The bus on Sark


We first cycled south to Little Sark which was the furthest point from the harbour, crossing La Coupee on foot and pushing our bikes across as cycling across is strictly prohibited.  The crossing involves a very steep path down and then up again after crossing the causeway. There are a few pools along the south coast but these are only visible at low tide and we arrived as the tide was coming in so we didn’t bother going to see them.  We did see the remains of a former silver mine.

La Coupee - causeway between Great and Little Sark

View across Little Sark
View from Little Sark

View from Little Sark

Towers remaining from former Silver Mine

We then returned across La Coupee and found a field with some seats where we had our lunch.  On leaving Paul noticed that he had a puncture.   As our mobiles were not working anywhere in the Channel Islands we could not ring the hire company but luckily we saw another couple who lent us their phone and within 10 minutes someone had come down with a replacement bike.  We then started to explore Great Sark and went along tracks leading to the East, North and West of the island. There are no signs of defences from WWII as the high cliffs all around naturally defend it.  However we did come across an old WWW cannon just lying in the grass.  We also cycled through the village centre where there are a few shops but most of them had closed at 1.00. 

View from Great Sark

View from Great Sark to Little Sark

Shops at Sark Village

Jean on Great Sark

Wild flowers seen everywhere

Guernsey Cows on Sark. They arrived in August 2021 
and were the first on the island for 3 years due to the 
former dairy closing down.  
The new dairy is run by a farmer from Suffolk

Nosey Cow




Church on Sark

Typical footpath on Sark

Remains of cannon on Sark

Sark Henge.  Set of old stones in a circle.
Seemed strange as we started our holiday at Stonehenge

Paul at northern tip of the island at 
Eperquerie Common

View across Sark


We took the bikes back at 15:30 as we were quite exhausted by then.  Sark is quite hilly so we had to work hard to get up the hills and couldn’t get much speed up coming down them as it was so rough and stony.  The lady at the hire shop told us of a quick way down to the harbour and said it was only 10 minutes at the most.

We had about an hour before we needed to check in for the ferry so went for a well deserved drink at one of the islands pubs (The Mermaid).  Paul wanted to stay until 4.40 but fortunately I managed to get him to leave at 4.20.  It is a good thing we did.  The quick way down was anything but.  It was a cliff path and just as we thought we were near the bottom and could see the harbour, we had to climb up high again before we descended again.  We reached the harbour at 4.45 which is check in time for the 5.00 sailing. 

Pauls reward for a hard days cycling


We had another smooth crossing and both of us sat outside on the upper deck this time.  We then got the bus back to the hotel and had a rest before going down for an evening meal.


 

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