Well, whose bright idea was it to go to Jersey!! At first we assumed that Jersey was part of UKonly to discover slowly and painfully that Jersey is a British Crown Dependency and it wouldnt be possible to have a day trip to Guernsey or Sark as we would have to isolate there for 14 days. Guernsey and its bailiwick ( includes Sark, Alderney and Herm!!) are COVID free so I dont blame them for not visitors. We also learnt that as we from a ‘Green area, we wouldnt need to self isolate in Jersey, BUT ( and things change hourly!!) if we from an ‘Amber area then we would need to self isolate for 5 days!! Then we learnt that we would also need a test on arrival and that they would text within 48hrs if it was negative and you had to reply WELL!!! If you tested positive then they would ring you. Two days to go – lets hope we get there!!!
We got here!!! An uneventful drive to Heathrow, stopping at Wetherspoons in Windsor for lunch! Meet and greet at the airport and then sat
in the terminal and waited for our flight (NB to oneself: dont get to the airport too early as its hard work wearing a mask!!) The flight was only about 40 mins but when we arrived we had to collect our suitcases and then queue for the obligatory COVID test! 45 minute queue ( it felt more like 2 hours!!) and then we were ushered through to yet another queue!! This queue moved quite quickly and after showing our QT barcode paperwork we were ushered through to small rooms for our test! It wasnt at all pleasant!! Swab down your neck – well ok the back of your throat, but it made you gag, and then cotton bud thingys up both nostrils – without screwing your nose up!! I was quite traumatised!!
Collected the car and then drove to the Hotel (via Sat Nav!) and got here in the dark! We were too late for the restaurant/food at the hotel, so drove down to Gorey Village for some fish and chips ( It was Fish & Chip Fryday!!) and then drove to the harbour. After eating had a quick wander out to the end of the
pier admiring the castle etc, before going back to Hotel where we discover that there were no coat hangers ( lovely new wardrobes though!!) the fan in the toilet goes on for ages, and the TV looked wonderful , only there was no remote or aerial, and could sort it out as they werent allowed in our room until we have the results of our COVID test. ( to be texted to us in 48hrs!)
Had a wonderful day!! The breakfast was delivered to our room at 9.15amexactly as promised! Green tea, coffee and full English breakfasts (hot!!), toast, set us up for the day – with the added bonus of 5 small pastries that we had for our lunch!!
We decided that we would drive the road back to Gorey and then explore the Island anticlockwise. We drove past the Red Tower onto St Catherines breakwater where there was a flotilla of small sailing boats. Walked to the end and back, after having a coffee sat overlooking the bay watching the Ribs ( Nauti Buoy, Rigid Inflatable Boats!!) Went to Rozel next – another very pretty little harbour, fishermens cottages and
Onwards to Bouley Bay for a quick peer at the steeply shelving pebble and rock beach as well as Mad Marys Caf. There was a bit of a queue at the caf or I could have been tempted by the crab sandwich (Chris had his eye on a bacon roll!!!) but we thought we would push on to Bonne Nuit.
Stopped on the way at a large Carpark, where we could clearly see Sark, Herm and Guernsey. Alderney was a bit more in the distance! Watched a bit of a sailing race around the island and playing with a dog and his ‘twig ( You couldnt really call it a stick!!)
Bonne Nuit was recorded in the 12th Century refuting the long held belief that the name was derived from King Charles II parting words, when he left the island form this port, after his exile. Its an unspoilt bay with just a stone jetty and a caf with lovely views of the bay.
