An island adventure

A small sailor and his big sister set off on a summer adventure...

A ferry ride was planned

A beautiful sunny day for the departure from Poole Harbour, however there was fog in the channel

It was foggy in the Channel Islands and patches of fog lingered when they arrived at St Peter Port in Guernsey.  Edmund was glad of his warm coat and beret (he was wearing his full Claudius outfit for the journey).

A few days later Laura and Edmund were excited about another ferry trip - this time to Herm Island across the bay from Guernsey

It was a beautiful bright sunny and warm day as they waited to board the ferry to Herm

Edmund was delighted to see the Guernsey Lifeboat in the harbour

He also liked all the yachts moored in St Peter Port

The crossing to Herm was only 20 minutes which docked in the main harbour as the tide was high

 Soon Laura and Edmund were hiking around Herm to find a beach.

"What is that island beyond the rocks?" said Edmund, pointing from the Herm cliffs

"That is Sark" said Laura "and beyond it is Jersey"

After their hike, they found a lovely sheltered beach in Belvoir bay and decided to build a sandcastle.

It was a lot of hard work to build the sandcastle as the sand in the bay was quite coarse so didn't stick together very well, however Laura persisted as Edmund watched.

Laura dug out the moat around the sandcastle

"This moat digging is hard work" said Laura

"Can I dig too?" asked Edmund. "I think I've finished, so lets look for shells instead" said Laura

They enjoyed looking in a rock pool to see the sea creatures and find shells

Edmund clutched a shell he found, there were thousands of pretty, tiny shells all along the beach

After shell hunting Edmund and Laura rested for a short while in the sun, though Laura was careful to make sure they applied sun cream

 They hiked back to the harbour and got the ferry from the Rossaire steps as the tide was out.

The captain of the Herm ferry was using a real ship's wheel to steer the boat, much to Edmund's delight

As the ferry came into St Peter Port they saw a beautiful two masted sailing schooner approaching the harbour and a large cruise ship preparing to leave.  They made a fascinating contrast.  Edmund wanted a ride on the sailing boat.

Back at the Guernsey farmhouse where they were staying they spread all their shells from Belvoir Bay and Shell Beach on a plate to admire the collection.

 Sadly it was soon time to leave the beautiful Channel Islands.  As they boarded the ferry back to Poole, they saw a car being loaded into a cargo ship.

The cargo ship being loaded in St Peter Port

Edmund, Laura and their new Guernsey cow watched from inside the ferry as the cargo ship was loaded.

"Goodbye beautiful Guernsey" said Laura and Edmund as the ferry set a course for Poole

They saw Castle Cornet which their girl had visited a few days earlier (unfortunately without them which she regretted as they would have enjoyed the castle - the cow was purchased there along with a Guernsey teddy calendar)

"See the lighthouse Edmund" said Laura as they left St Peter Port "it helps to guide ships and sailing yachts safety into the harbour

Fortunately they had a smooth crossing back to England.  It was sad to leave Guernsey and Herm but good to get home again.

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The Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands is a very special place for our family as my godparents live there - I have visited many times since I was 9, however I hadn't been to Herm for a while.  I have very happy memories of collecting the tiny shells on Belvoir and Shell beaches when I was 16 and subsequent walks on the island as well as mooring off Shell beach one summer evening in a yacht which belonged to our friends.  Baby Mabel traveled with us to Guernsey last time we visited in 2012.

For the doll visit to Herm they traveled in their girl's rucksack rather than the doll bag as they could be zipped right inside it and protected from the sun which was very bright that day. It was risky taking two precious Sasha dolls on ferries, my girl refused to take them onto the outside decks as she was terrified of tripping and dropping them in the sea. So although the intrepid Edmund wanted the breeze to blow in his hair on board ship, he had to be content with looking at the wonderful views through the windows. And we were very careful with them on the beach too. It was a busy beach, however as the tide was going out we were able to find a sheltered place by the rocks before other people claimed the spot so could do a doll photo shoot in relative privacy. That sandcastle was a challenge to build, the sand is finer on Shell beach but there is less shelter. Unfortunately my only photo of the dolls with the shells is blurred. Some of the shells are very tiny - only a few millimeters across.