Experiencing Guernsey             Monday 24^th August

 

With the weather due to get worse we took the 41 bus to Saumerez Park under grey skies and drizzle. There was an interesting Folk Museum here and it being with the National Trust for Guernsey we were able to use our English National Trust cards. The costume section was particularly good especially the lingerie. We learnt that English had only been used on the island since 1925- before it was always French. It is odd that with so many French street names that people here don’t generally speak French or at least pronounce the names French- like. We had it in writing that the tomato industry had declined since 1980 -leaving the greenhouses to grow wild in dilapidation we noticed. We were surprised to see the amount of pesticides that used to be thrown at them- nicotine amongst them.

 

After walking the park and seeing the preparations for the Flower Festival ( sadly we won’t be here then) we caught another 41 to Grande Rocques. It was raining in earnest now and the wind was taking our breath away. We found a tavern on the verge of a bungalow estate where we had a quick lunch then sheltered for yet another bus on to Fort Grey. Tickets were on sale at Guernsey Pearl which is quite an interesting place. The jewellery was stunning. There is a lucky dip- For the price of £16 you can choose an oyster, guaranteed to contain a pearl. They open it, clean it with salt and water then value it. A young girl showed us her pearl, now put into a pretty silver cage and on a silver chain. It had been valued at £25 so not a bad profit. The shop mostly lost out to the customer- but what a sales ploy!

Fort Grey contains mostly lighthouse memorabilia and shipwreck details over 2 floors. It was the site of a castle that later became a Martello tower that is known as the cup and saucer. The wind whistled around it spookily and I couldn’t concentrate on the exhibits that needed more light for me to appreciate them.

 

 

 

 

There is no shelter here for the bus back to St Peter Port and as the buses are stopped by a hand signal we got soaked. The bus was busy too, not surprisingly but we passed fields of sunflowers and warm stone walls. Getting off at the bus terminus we visited La Valette Underground. It cost us £4 each and was full of weaponry, German helmets, medals and actual wartime notices with dire warnings against helping any British personnel. It was all very chilling and not helped by a visitor who seemed to think he was living in the era, marching up and down and going into explosive dialogue with imaginary people. I was glad to see the guns well locked up especially as he always seemed to be near us no matter how hard we tried to get away. This was an actual “residence” of the Nazis for 5 years.

 

Opposite our hotel we had observed that Christies restaurant was always busy so we decided to have an early bird meal there. It was delicious, well presented and a good price too.

We would have liked to be free to go wherever the fancy took us on our bike but the weather wasn’t good enough but it was an interesting day on the whole.