N 50.98641°, W 02.10846°
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:50.98641%2C-02.10846
With my enforced extra day on Guernsey, I had a spin out on the bike and then found a quiet clifftop spot to laze about and watch the sea. It was a clear day today and I could easily see all of the other Channel Islands and France.
I'm back in England now at the coordinates shown now - a place I've kipped before and all that's left to do is the drudge of the drive back tomorrow.
Some random ramblings about the trip:
All the Channel Islanders I met were friendly, helpful and accommodating. I never encountered any dangerous or discourteous driving when on the bike (or off it).
The roads can be challenging - especially round the sprawl of St Peter Port. They are very narrow, twisting, sometimes steep, and have many blind bends and junctions. I had to multi-point turn in to and out of some junctions and the Delica has a reasonably small footprint. It doesn't help that the roads often have really steep bankings both sides - and sometimes granite walls, too. Encroaching vegetation and the fact that houses, tall hedges and walls afford no sight-lines make for necessarily cautious and slow going. Average speeds on the island are probably less than 20mph.
Because of the lack of sight-lines and also because the whole island is very 'laney' it's incredibly easy to become disorientated / lost. I normally have a decent sense of direction but there were times around the sprawl of St Peter Port that I was just totally flummoxed.
I like the 'filter' system they use at many junctions but this can take some concentration at first. I encountered a similar thing in British Columbia. Basically whoever gets to one of the yellow boxes first has the right of way - even if turning right across traffic. It helped me to get to grips by thinking of them as being called 'take turnsies', boxes; or simply 'turnsies'.
In busy areas there's a disc parking system in place. Basically, you are allowed a maximum stay of the time displayed and you have to leave a timing clock in your windscreen showing your time of arrival. These can be bought at fuel stations etc, but I never bothered. I was told that being a 'foreigner' in a non-Guensey registered car that as long as I wrote my time of arrival on a bit of paper and left it clearly visible I'd have no problems: and didn't. Although parking is free, finding spaces can be very, very hard and finding spaces that allow a long enough time to visit the other islands can be a real headache.
On Guernsey, there are prohibition signs dotted about that disallow alcohol in certain areas. There are also, as I mentioned ages ago, quite a few revvy boy-racer types and more police sirens than you might expect. I get a sense that though crime is not by any means a major concern, there can be quite a lot of yoof-led anti-social behaviour. This is seemingly not the case on Alderney, and definitely not the case on Sark or Herm.
There are zillions of clean public toilets all over the place. There are also zillions of regularly emptied public litter bins and recycling facilities. There's hardly any litter and not much graffiti.
The inter-island ferry services are a mixed bag. It's definitely necessary to pre-book to Alderney, preferable to pre-book to Sark, but Herm is just a turn-up-whenever-you-like job. I didn't try for Jersey as it all seemed a little bit too commercial for my liking.
There are loads of subtle differences to the GB mainland to make it feel like you're abroad. These range from arcane laws and traditions, through local currency (including a £1 note), to a northern-France feeling flora and fauna. It was brilliant to see and hear so many grasshoppers singing; plus the occasional cicada. The vegetation generally feels quite 'exotic' with lots of palms and cultivars normally found in the med. Best wild flowers I saw were autumn squills.
Bird life was pretty ordinary but not without good moments. The biggest oddity was the bar-headed goose and the short-eared owl sighting was excellent.
A week is long enough to do what I did. Any longer and you will definitely get the sense you're going round in circles: mainly because you will be.
The sense of German occupation and liberation is still very strong. I particularly liked the Liberation Monument (pic). Its basically a giant sundial and on Liberation Day only (9th May), the tip of the shadow created by the needle follows the arc of the granite benches and at exactly the correct time it points to an inscription which announces different events such as: the time the Germans formally surrendered, the time British troops landed, and the time the Union Jack was raised once again. Art meets Science meets Humanities: impressive stuff.
The Delica proved excellent, it would be easy to do an extended trip in it.
The Delica proved excellent, it would be easy to do an extended trip in it.
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