Guernsey Impressions
By the time we took the ferry over to Guernsey for the second part of our vacation, I took a somewhat unconscious digital detox. Guernsey is utterly beautiful - more wild and unpolished than Jersey and a lot more laid back. And somehow I dove right into that feeling and only noticed back home that I hardly took any pictures, too busy enjoying hiking along the coast and exploring this tiny island.
So this post is not driven by one red thread of an adventure but a collection of impressions too stunning not to capture here.
The first one below is Renoir's Bay, named so after the famous French painter who adored coming to Guernsey and painted this bay in particular frequently.
It is the destination of not just most hikers who set out in Guernsey but a few yachts as well.
Guernsey's capital and more or less only larger town is St Peter Port which reminds you more of a french countryside village than a British coastal town. It is made up entirely of winding alleys and stairways lead you up and down in a maze-like setting that leaves so much to explore for tourists that the town feels much larger than any map would let on.
The fort you can see in the background set a bit away from the town line is Castle Cornet which has a turbulent history as the military base of whatever occupier took claim over Guernsey throughout history. It is definitely worth a visit - with a great museum on the island's history, a daily cannon firing and historically accurate herb gardens that are lovingly kept up to this day.
The most popular hike (with good reason) leads you south of St Peter Port and down the coastal line to Renoir's Bay. The paths are at times as rudimentary as they can get and there a frequent highs and lows to overcome which makes the entire length quite strenuous. Which I love in a good hike - there needs to be a bit of a physical challenge.
While we stayed on Guernsey we managed to walk around the entire southern half from St Peter Port to L'Erée. On multiple days naturally and unfortunately we only had one real day of sunshine but that does not lessen the natural beauty at all.
Both for large-scale scenes as well as for the tiniest inhabitants.
Throughout all of our walks (with the exception of the St Peter Port - Renoir's Bay route) we hardly ever met other people. For large stretches of time we seemingly were alone in the world making our way along almost forgotten paths and exploring mother nature's work to our hearts' content.
Both Jersey and Guernsey have wonderful local bus systems with routes taking you wherever you could want to go.
Guernsey even has one line that takes you around the entire island making it easy peasy to get around without needing a car. I wouldn't want to rent one personally anyway. The streets are, as you would expect, tiny and winding and if you don't drive them regularly they are a bit of a nightmare to navigate. And there is the whole driving on the left side of the street - which my German-wired mind just never gets comfortable with.
All in all, go to the channel islands. They are wonderful little treasures right between the UK and France. Every island has its entirely unique charm ready to be discovered. And after two weeks being outside from dusk til dawn every day you I admit it was a challenge to get back to being inside an office all day.
The one consolation was that we surely will be back.
So this post is not driven by one red thread of an adventure but a collection of impressions too stunning not to capture here.
The first one below is Renoir's Bay, named so after the famous French painter who adored coming to Guernsey and painted this bay in particular frequently.
It is the destination of not just most hikers who set out in Guernsey but a few yachts as well.
Guernsey's capital and more or less only larger town is St Peter Port which reminds you more of a french countryside village than a British coastal town. It is made up entirely of winding alleys and stairways lead you up and down in a maze-like setting that leaves so much to explore for tourists that the town feels much larger than any map would let on.
The fort you can see in the background set a bit away from the town line is Castle Cornet which has a turbulent history as the military base of whatever occupier took claim over Guernsey throughout history. It is definitely worth a visit - with a great museum on the island's history, a daily cannon firing and historically accurate herb gardens that are lovingly kept up to this day.
The most popular hike (with good reason) leads you south of St Peter Port and down the coastal line to Renoir's Bay. The paths are at times as rudimentary as they can get and there a frequent highs and lows to overcome which makes the entire length quite strenuous. Which I love in a good hike - there needs to be a bit of a physical challenge.
While we stayed on Guernsey we managed to walk around the entire southern half from St Peter Port to L'Erée. On multiple days naturally and unfortunately we only had one real day of sunshine but that does not lessen the natural beauty at all.
Both for large-scale scenes as well as for the tiniest inhabitants.
Throughout all of our walks (with the exception of the St Peter Port - Renoir's Bay route) we hardly ever met other people. For large stretches of time we seemingly were alone in the world making our way along almost forgotten paths and exploring mother nature's work to our hearts' content.
Both Jersey and Guernsey have wonderful local bus systems with routes taking you wherever you could want to go.
Guernsey even has one line that takes you around the entire island making it easy peasy to get around without needing a car. I wouldn't want to rent one personally anyway. The streets are, as you would expect, tiny and winding and if you don't drive them regularly they are a bit of a nightmare to navigate. And there is the whole driving on the left side of the street - which my German-wired mind just never gets comfortable with.
All in all, go to the channel islands. They are wonderful little treasures right between the UK and France. Every island has its entirely unique charm ready to be discovered. And after two weeks being outside from dusk til dawn every day you I admit it was a challenge to get back to being inside an office all day.
The one consolation was that we surely will be back.
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