Breakfast at 9 am was a more leisurely affair, and even included the feeding of the turkey and chickens, and Marlene cuddling the youngest hen.
After breakfast we headed into town, where Randy bought a hiking pole, and we then wandered the streets of St. Peter Port looking for a house that was once lived in by Victor Hugo. We found the house, which is now owned by the French government, but we did not venture inside.
Instead, we caught a bus to the southwest corner of the island, which was the area most exposed to the storm, as the wind was out of the southwest. We ate lunch at the Imperial Hotel, and then set off on a "short" walk around the Pleinmont Headland. The walk started off on town streets, and wound its way higher up the hillside, bringing us out in farmers' fields at the top. From here we walked through the fields to join the cliff-top path.
The walk along the cliff-top path was anything but easy, as we were constantly buffeted by the wind. At times the wind was so strong that I could barely breathe, and Marlene was gripping my arm for fear of being blown over. All along this portion of the trail were signs of the German occupation, including gun batteries, lookout towers and a command post. Eventually we reached the southwest tip of the island at the Hanois Lighthouse, built in 1862.
The Hanois Lighthouse, Guernsey
From here the walk became easier as the wind was more at our backs, although a squally rain shower certainly stung our faces. We had great views of Portelet Harbour and Fort Grey (The white blob in the centre of the photograph below, and known as the cup and saucer). Portelet Harbour is home to a fleet of small fishing boats, and I think that most of them were moored today due to the weather.
Portelet Harbour & Fort Grey, Guernsey
We arrived back at the Imperial Hotel just in time to catch the number 91 bus, which runs clockwise around the island, taking us back (the long route) to St. Peter Port on the East side of the island, which took about an hour. We can now say that we have driven right around the island (and several diagonals through the middle).
Just because we were in town, we took the opportunity to stop at Condor Ferries and confirm that our ferry is still running tomorrow morning, but of course, it too has been cancelled. So, plan D is now that we will leave Guernsey at 3:55 pm tomorrow, on an older & slower ferry (I don't know why it is called the "Rapide"), rather than the faster but less stable "Liberation" (which has failed 3 times to liberate us from the island).
The locals have nothing good to say about the Liberation, which in its first few months of service has had a lot of downtime due to weather and technical difficulties, and has not yet faced the winter storms. Any similarity to BC Ferries is probably purely coincidental, or perhaps Condor recruits their senior management staff from BC Ferries?
We picked up dinner at Marks & Spencer, and headed back to the B&B, tired from fighting the wind, and frustrated with yet another ferry delay. We ate dinner in the breakfast room, supplementing our supplies with scallops caught by Christine's son yesterday, which she offered us along with a shot of her homemade sloe gin. Christine is an antiques collector / dealer, and she let us read many items that she has collected over the years, including the war diaries of Austin Mann, an 18 year old boy who detailed life on the island throughout the war. This was supplemented by a visit from Christine's son, who is also a history buff, and he regaled us with tales of some little known facts about WWII on Guernsey and the surrounding area.
So, we get to sleep in a little tomorrow, and hopefully by bedtime we will be in Jersey, starting a whole new adventure. If not, then plan E will be in play, whatever plan E might be.
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