Day 10 - Sark

Beer drunk: 1 pint, Wine: 0 glasses
Distance walked: 11km, Time taken: 3h15m

I woke in the middle of the night because my digestive system decided it wanted something I ate Gone!  Now!  Not a fun experience.  I would like to blame the indifferent ice cream or the disappointing fish and chips but I strongly suspect it was either the prawns or mayonnaise in the Absolute End salad.

I'd bought my ferry tickets to Sark the day before but wasn't sure I'd get to use them given I'm prone to sea sickness at the best of times, which this wasn't.  However, when I woke in the morning I felt fine.  I had a big bowl of bland, nonthreatening porridge for breakfast and headed for the ferry terminal.  The ferry was scheduled to leave at 10am but I'd been told to get there by 9:30am.  I couldn't see why since it was just a watery bus but did so anyway.  Turned out to be a good thing as they started getting us on board at 9:30am and by 9:40am it was full so we set sail.  The people left on the dock were not amused.

The ferry ride took an hour.  I sat in the covered area in the middle of the ferry as I figured this would have the least amount of movement.  Most people rushed to sit in the open area up the front (prow?). As soon as we had cleared the harbour it started to get bumpy as there was "a bit of a swell" in the words of one of the sailors.  The people up front very quickly started getting soaked with spray much to the amusement of us inside.  After about 5 minutes a steady trickle of people gave up and fled indoors to be greeted by cheers, claps and general derision.

My two guidebooks once again claimed very different distances for the same route.  One claimed the cliff walk around the island was only 10 miles while the other said it was closer to 15 miles.  Given that I got to the island at 11am and my return ferry was at 4pm that only left me 4 hours for walking (since I'd need to start heading for the ferry at 3pm to make sure I got on board).  There was no way I was going to do 10 miles in 4 hours let alone 15, so I just walked the southern part of the cliff route and then wandered the dirt tracks inland for the rest.

The cliff top scenery was once again spectacular.  I know I keep using that word but it keeps being appropriate.  Below is a picture of Dixcart Bay.

I went across to Little Sark which is a blob at the very southern tip of Sark joined by a narrow path called the Coupee.  It is about as wide as 1 1/2 cars.

On the right hand side of the Coupee there was a very (very) steep set of stairs leading down to the bay.  There was a sign saying it was built by volunteers (i.e. we didn't ask them to do it, we're not that crazy) and use at your own risk (i.e. you'd have to be insane to clamber down there).  I wasn't even remotely tempted - perhaps if I was being chased by an axe murderer but not otherwise.  The "path" is the diagonal line leading down in the picture below.  It was every bit as precipitous as it looks.

There aren't any cars on Sark.  The only means of transport are feet, bicycles, horses or tractors.  I saw one man on a tractor doing home deliveries of groceries.  He had a big digger attachment on the back and had put all the boxes in that.  Novel but effective.

I had lunch on Little Sark.  There is a hotel there, La Sablonnerie, with a very upmarket restaurant.  It was also very fishy which I'm not currently a fan of so I lunched in their more downmarket tea room which was set in beautiful gardens.  I had a ploughman's lunch - cheese, bread and pickles.  No fish, no seafood, no mayonnaise and tasty it was too.

After lunch I headed back to (Big?) Sark and wandered generally around the island.  Beside tourism and tax dodges (there is an HSBC office here) another big industry in viticulture.  I was surprised but there were vineyards everywhere.  I'm not sure what types of grapes.  White wines at a guess.

In hindsight I should have arranged thing so I could stay longer on Sark as I missed a lot of the island.  I should have considered staying overnight so I didn't have to fuss about getting ferries back. There are lots of places to stay here.

In my ramble around the town centre I came across this evil fountain.  In the middle are big metal flowers - the green and red bits.  When the flower head is upright water pours into them from the silver "leaves" above.  When they are full they tip over and pour the water into the bottom of the pond.  So far so good, but when they are empty they tip upright and this bangs their stem against the toadstools below.  There was a constant banging and bonging, which was audible from quite some distance away.  If I lived nearby I'd sabotage the pump.

I got back to the road leading to the harbour at 3pm and fortified myself for the journey back with genuine Sark ice cream made from milk from genuine Sark cows (as elusive as their Jersey counterparts) which was quite good.  Lemon cheesecake flavour.  I then wandered down to the harbour where the ferry was already docked.  However, it was a good few feet back from the stairs leading down from the dock as it was low tide and the captain was worried about the rocks.  Two lifeguards/harbour master types came by in an inflatable and mocked them for being big girl's blouses.  After much mockery and gentle guidance the 4pm ferry pulled up at the dock almost right on time at 3:35pm.  By 3:45pm we'd set sail.  Again, leaving people behind.  Apparently they were going to send a second ferry.  They'd done the same in the morning.

I sat outside this time but at the rear (stern?).   I got mildly splashed but not too much.  There was again a "bit of a swell" but my stomach behaved itself and with the sun and the rocking motion I actually fell asleep.

For dinner I had a counter meal at the pub next door.  Steak and kidney pudding with mashed potatoes and peas.  It was a proper pudding again, not a pie, but not as well cooked as the one I'd had before as the pastry was a bit soggy.  But it was tasty and filling and had nothing to do with the sea so I was happy.