The Travelling DesRosiers: Guernsey

Couldn't very well visit Normandy without going to Guernsey (on Reg's Bucket List) particularly since one of Paul's work colleagues, Rex Ferbrache, had retired there. Up at 6AM to drive to St. Malo in the dark, ditch the car at the dock and catch the 8AM ferry to Jersey and Guernsey. Travelling by ferry is a bit like travelling in the 16th century, but with modern airport-type mucking-about. The swoopy looking ferries which do 40 Knots with rooster-tails in Greece, do about 8 knots here and other than comfy seats and duty-free shops, are rudimentary and involve a lot of waiting, walking and standing around, none of Paul's favourite activities.

Rex and his charming wife Val met us at the dock and whisked us off for a whirlwind tour of the lovely island. We were extremely glad we had decided not to rent a car here; not only does one have to drive on the wrong side, sometimes there is no other side, so narrow are the lanes and byways. In short order, we visited the town around St. Peter's Port (including a stop for lemonade), Isaac Brock's house, a charming church, an underground German Hospital from WWII, a miniature church made by monks entirely from broken china, German gun emplacements and lookout points, some beautiful beaches and lunch al Fresco on the lawn at Ferbrache Manor. Now retired, Rex divides his time between terrorizing local governments and publishing his Guernsey novels for e-books on Amazon.com. A good time was had by all. We finished off the day with a great Pub supper.

After a night at our gracious host's house and a monster English fry-up breakfast, We were driven to the ferry where Paul suddenly realized he'd forgotten the only thing he was in charge of: his camera.
Rex returned home, found the camera and got back in time for us to board the ferry. Vacation saved.

We waved farewell and sailed back to St. Malo with a change of ferries at Jersey, just because it suited the ferry company. Tired, we rounded up some lovely Calvados Brie, some Spanish ham and a bottle of Duty-Free spiced rum and went back to our B&B for supper and bed.