Day 14 Lihou Island and North West Guernsey

 

We had an email from Condor Ferries today to say we are now booked on the Saturday night sailing to Poole, so brought forward a day.  We arrive at 23.40 so have booked the Premier Inn in Ferndown for the night and will drive to Hertford on Sunday morning.

Now to make the most of our extended holiday.

After a relaxing breakfast, we drove a short distance along the coast to Fort Hommet and the gun casements that were added in WW2.  There were some great coastal views as well.


Fort Hommet

Vazon Bay rocks

Fort Hommet Gun Casements

Fort Hommet

Vazon Bay rocks


After this we drove to the causeway from where you can walk to Lihou Island which is on the north west corner of Guernsey.  The causeway is open at low tide during hours of daylight.  At the moment it seems to be open for 2 3/4 hours for 7 or 8 days then closed for 2 days.  It opened at 11:39 today and closed at 14:14.  There were quite a few people waiting.  Most of the causeway was block stone but in places this had sunk and we had to walk over wet pebbles or seaweed.  Towards the end Paul slipped and fell on his backside into a wet area so had to walk around with a wet bottom.  There was a well defined path around the island with a few other paths where you could walk to rocks or over the pebbles.  There is a protected nature reserve for nesting birds in the spring and visitors are not allowed into this area at that time.  There is also a big house, built by former owners, than can be rented as a holiday home on a self catering basis.

Rock Pools along Causeway at low tide



The house on Lihou Island

Meadow Pipit - Loads of them about

The side view of house on Lihou Island 

View along causeway back to Guernsey


We walked around and it was very scenic and very peaceful.  No dogs are allowed.  We came back a bit earlier than planned as Paul was feeling very uncomfortable and returned to the hotel where he changed before we went off to continue with our plans for the day.

Coast around Lihou Island

Coast around Lihou Island

The Venus Pool at Lihou Island

Remains of Lihou Priory built in 12th or 13th century


Jean on large rock formation

Jean on large rock formation

Centre of the island
After a coffee and a quick shower and change of trousers for Paul, we made our way to St Saviours reservoir.  There are 2 car parks on the map.  The first one was closed with some sort of maintenance work underway in the car park and the second was incredibly well hidden and very difficult to find.  No signposts anywhere.  After eating we set out for a walk around it.  The sky had clouded over but it was still very warm but also very windy.  The notice board said it was 2 miles which was correct but we didn’t see much of the reservoir.  Some of the walk was in woodland high above the reservoir, which was nice and quiet.   However a lot of the walk was on quiet roads away from a view of the reservoir.

Paul on bridge aross part of reservoir

Fallen fir tree laying in reservoir

Cormorant



Fungus in woods

Fungus in woods

Chicken roaming around reservoir

Chicken roaming around reservoir

Reservoir


Fungus in woods

Gulls on reservoir

Reservoir Dam


Many small roads in Guernsey are marked “Rue Tranquil” which means horses, cyclists and pedestrians have priority over cars.

We finished our day at Pleinmont Point on the South West corner of the island.  There are a lot of WW2 batteries, observation towers and underground bunkers here.

Pleinmont Point

"Table des Pions"

Pleinmont Point

Pleinmont Observation Tower

WW2 gun

German Trenches

German Trenches and mini gun battery

Cave at Piermont Point

We had fish and chips from the local shop for our evening meal and ate it in the car.  We couldnt sit on the benches outside the shop as it was high tide and the waves were coming across the road towards the tables.

When we got back to the hotel they were getting ready for the weekly Quiz Night.  Paul and I joined in and called ourselves "The Midlanders".  This caused a lot of the locals to come and talk to us as they had connections in the Midlands.  One man had immediate family in Leicestershire and knew Hinckley well.  There was another who was originally from Great Glen.  He said he had 3 other friends in Guernsey who had lived as ex pats in Hong Kong so he was interested in my time out there.  Paul and I were in 4th place (out of 13) at the interval but eventually finished 12th out of 13 as the last 2 rounds just floored us.  It was good fun though.



 

 

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