On Wednesday just gone, Chris took the afternoon off, so we were able to get out on our kayak, launching from the slip way by the Half Moon Café
Am always a bit flumoxeted by this slip way as it very quickly turns into a few narrow steps, not very helpful for launching boats other than at high tide!!!!
As you paddle along La Vallette you really get the chance to admire the skill and craftsman ship of the stonemasons that built this road, the raised gardens and the myriad of quirky little builds, walls, piers and steps back in the mid 1800's.
Have never worked out what these steps are for, the sloping wall would make it very hard to off load passengers from a small boat
and with all the bathing pools why would you build steps for swimming?
Men's bathing pools, still looking very sad after the storms two years ago.
As is the Horseshoe pool, this is where Victor Hugo bathed and I have recently read Monet did too, but as I have never heard of him visiting the island
and cant find any evidence of that, I would take it with a pinch of salt!
A rather out of focus (sorry) contrast of boats of different eras,
on the left is the cruise boat Crystal Serenity.
Children's pool busy with families enjoying their summer holidays
Then heading of round Clarence Battery on Les Terres Point and just the other side you find a very rocky bay which is a bit of a mess
I believe that it is partly where in the late 1800s they tried to build a tunnel through the headland and continue the La Vallette Road along the shore line all the way to Fermain!!!!
This failed.
The Aquarium now occupies the St Peter Port end of the tunnel.
Looking closer, I think the Germans must have had a bash as well.
Then to our destination, Soldiers Bay, the steps down aren't safe any more except for the fool hardy access is only by boat, and often you will have the place to your self.
We nearly did, but there is enough space that you can feel like you do!
But first swim before lunch!
looking back at Soliders and a rather mysterious cave that I forgot to explore, next time.
Then Lunch
And I must say I am very proud of my first Focaccia,
and it was delicious,
will definitely make that again
As we watched Minerva head off to La Coruna,
we saw HMS Northumberland approaching on the horizon.
One of our favourite war films is Guns of Navarone (1961) staring Gregory Peck,
and the way she was steaming to wards us I just wanted to hear her siren go,
just like the flotilla does at the end of the film.
Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time!
She seemed to be going a very indirect route to St Peter Port, and then suddenly appeared again from behind Clarence Battery, rather close to shore
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