UK & Ireland - day 2 (2015-09-11)

Today was a longer travel day than we had thought that it would be.  We left the B&B in Portsmouth at 8:45 and hauled our suitcases to the railway station to catch the 9:33 am train to Southampton.  A helpful railway employee suggested that we catch the 9:23 Cardiff train and get off in Southampton, which would be a lot faster service, so off we went, arriving in Southampton at 10 am.  Again a helpful railway employee suggested the 10:21 am train to Weymouth, getting off at Poole, rather than the 10:33 am train to Poole.  We saved so much time, that we arrived almost before we left, and certainly well ahead of our planned schedule.

From Poole station we walked down High Street to the Quay, stopping to pick up lunch at M&S.  The High Street of Poole seemed rather rundown, with many charity shops, suggesting that the town may have fallen on hard times.  With no nice places to stop to eat our lunch, we headed to the ferry terminal, where we arrived with at least an hour to spare.  So we ate our lunch in the ferry waiting area, before boarding the ferry to Guernsey.

The ferry was a catamaran, which made the crossing in a relatively smooth 3 hours, despite quite large swells and whitecaps at the Poole end of the trip.  Condor Ferries have taken a leaf out of the Air New Zealand play book, as their safety video was very entertaining and kept our attention, with people even asking for it to be played a second time.  We did not arrive in St. Peter Port until almost 5:30 pm, by which time the overcast skies were not great for photographs, but I did snap a few pictures as we came into port.

                                       St. Peter Port harbour, Guernsey from the ferry

                               The Castle Cornet, St. Peter Port from the ferry

Those of you with intimate knowledge of the Channel Islands will know that technically Guernsey is not part of the United Kingdom.  The Bailiwick of Guernsey (which includes the islands of Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou and Lihou) is actually a self-governing British Crown dependency, is not part of the UK or EU, but enjoys free trade with the EU countries.  

Listening to the locals talk you could be excused if you thought that you were in England, and they also drive on the left side of the road.....if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, chances are its a duck.

The roads however are very narrow and windy with very few sidewalks, so I was glad that we had not rented a car.  Taxis are affordable, and the local buses are cheap at 1 pound for a single ticket and 4.50 pounds for a day pass.  Unfortunately the last bus to our B&B is 7 pm, with even less service on Sundays.

We really only had time for a short walk in the main part of town, then dinner and back to the B&B for a somewhat early night, as our biological clocks are still not running on local time.

There is talk of a long hike tomorrow, as Sunday and Monday are anticipated to be a bit wet....such fun!