Day 8 - St Peter Port to La Prevote

Beer drunk: 0 pints, Wine: 2 glasses
Distance walked: 20km, Time taken: 6 1/4 hours

Today was my first day walking on Guernsey and it felt as if it was a lot hillier and longer than any other walk I'd done so far.   However, my GPS says that isn't the case.  In fact, the total ascents and descents today were fractionally less than Day 5 (only 992m ascending and 877m descending). Navigation was harder as the path isn't as clearly marked.  I walked out to a fair few viewing points on headlands and, once, up to the main road, instead of along the cliff path.

I will hold to the claim that the scenery here is more beautiful than on Jersey.  After all, no GPS can contradict me here.  The water is a different colour, greener than on Jersey, but the bays are still lovely.  Below is a picture of Fermain Bay.

I think the people here are generally friendlier too. One thing where Guernsey isn't quite on par with Jersey is the weather.  The temperature is a few degrees lower (low 20s rather than mid 20s) and it is generally windier, particularly in the evening. On the plus side, it means I get to wear some of the cooler weather clothing I've been lugging about.

I had lunch at the Icart Point Tea Room which is just a fancy name for what is strongly reminiscent of a school tuck shop nestled in an overgrown garden.  I had a pleasant chat with the owner, Al, as he made me a sandwich (cheese and pickles).  He trained as a physicist but now runs the tea room with his mother in the summer and overwinters in Italy (a hard life clearly).  When I arrived he was writing a long letter to the local government (the States) complaining about politicians and bankers. A genuine eccentric. The sandwich was ordinary, using supermarket ingredients, but I also had a piece of homemade coffee cake which was very good.  I've since discovered Al makes his own ice cream which is supposed to be delicious.  Wish I'd known at the time as I would have had some.

I've still to have some ice cream here but plan to do so. There is genuine Guernsey dairy which makes genuine Guernsey ice cream from genuine Guernsey cows.  Both the cows and the ice cream are superior to any others say, for example, those you'd find on Jersey.  Mind you genuine Guernsey cows are as hard to spot as their Jersey equivalents.

After lunch I carried on to La Prevote before heading inland to find myself directly at a bus stop. Excellent.  What was not so excellent was the bus stop wasn't in use as there were road works up ahead and so traffic was being diverted.  There were some workmen nearby and one stopped to examine my map and help me find an alternative bus stop.  While we were doing this we spotted a bus going by in the opposite direction (out of town) so he rushed out and waved it down.  Turns out the out of town half of the road is open so I hopped on the bus, rode it to a terminus on the far side of the island, and then back to St Peter Port by an inland route.

For dinner I attempted to eat at a very pleasant seeming French bistro but it what fully booked that night, and sadly, every night of my stay (truly as I could see the reservation book).  They were very charming and apologetic but still turned me away.  I then tried an Italian bistro but they sneered as they turned me away.  I ended up at a place with a French name but run by Italians with an Italian menu, St Emilion.  The food was ordinary and the service amateur but the owners were very welcoming.  Happy to serve single diners, happy to serve a group who wandered in at prime dinner time but just wanted coffee and cake.  I had the house pate to start which came with toasted white sandwich bread and was a bit more porkier tasting than I prefer.  For main I had a fillet of brill which was one of the daily specials.  The owner raved about it, however I'd had coffee there with Cousin Alex the day before, the "daily" specials had been exactly the same.  As it happened it turned out to be delicious.  Very fresh and well cooked, just grilled with a lemon butter sauce.  The veg was dull - steamed carrots, peas and potatoes.  For dessert I had tiramisu.  It was made as a layer cake with layers of sponge and mascarpone cream and topped with chocolate sauce rather than being dusted with cocoa.   Allowing for the differences in construction it was almost as good as mine.

The restaurant was right on the waterfront, in what used to be the cellars of a building which faces onto the main street above.  There were crowds gathered by the waterfront and lots of official looking people wandering about in hi res vests.  I wandered over to see what was going on.  Turns out it was a spring tide tonight and they were expecting the water to come over the road and possibly even flood the shops opposite.  The official types were the local equivalent of the SES who were probably wishing all the silly tourists loitering about, watching water rise and attempting to take photos of it (guilty as charged), would just get out of the way and go home.  In the end it didn't come up as high as they feared, but they did close one lane of the road.  More because it was flooded with tourists than anything else.

Edited to add - below is the same point at low tide.  There is an almost 10m difference in water levels.