Guernsey Islands - Channel Island Way, 10 Days

Fly or ferry to Guernsey, St. Peter Port. The Island’s capital is a bustling, friendly place with a row of attractive harbours and marinas set under a steeply terraced townscape with some remarkably well preserved buildings especially from the 1700 and 1800s. Visit Castle Cornet the 800 year old fortress, the restored Victorian Gardens, the house where Victor Hugo stayed, or just relax along the promenade with its array of pubs and restaurants. At certain high points in the town you can see Herm, Sark, Alderney and the coast of Normandy. Accommodation: La Piette Hotel is family owned. It dates back to the 1700's with many of its original architectural features remaining including a magnificent carved wooden fireplace, rumoured to have come from the town church in 1870.

Starting from the ‘Liberation Memorial’ marking the end of the German occupation, head south out of town along the coast road passing some tidal bathing pools before the way follows a climbing path through the artillery positions of Victorian Fort George. More gently you wind through what in late April – May are beautiful bluebell woods, dropping down to attractive Fermain Bay where you could have a swim or refreshments at the café. The Path becomes rougher, undulating around headlands, including St. Martins, Jerbourg and Icart Points and a gorgeous series of bays. There are views across to several sea stacks called the ‘Pea Stacks’ and you occasionally pass Nazi strong-points. Just when you are ready for an afternoon tea you reach Moulin Huet Bay with its tea room. In the coves below, Renoir did a series of paintings. The undulations finally take you down to ‘Petit Bot Bay’ a pretty shingle beach. The coastal walk finishes here, but the accommodation is another 25 minutes walk inland in the parish of St. Martin. Accommodation: We use a popular country pub, The Captains. The pub has a great menu and sometimes folk music. Just down the road, there is the possibility of an upgrade to another pub hotel.

Continue along the undulating path which involves numerous steps in places. Passing the pretty National Trust land and seascapes near to ‘Le Gouffre’ and then along a particularly wild and rocky coastline dotted with occasional watch towers. Heading westerly, some huge fortifications come into view - reinforced concrete direction finding towers used by the Nazis to direct their artillery at allied shipping. You will come across a restored trench system with a 22 cm artillery piece in its pit. There are views inland to Torteval Church which was used as a ‘Seamark’ so that pre radar, sailors could locate themselves and then out to sea there is Hanois lighthouse which protects shipping from the dangerous reefs. Leaving the cliffs walking into Portelet Harbour, you can enjoy your first extensive sweeps of sand and possible swimming around the bay. It may be worth visiting the interesting ‘Cup and Saucer’ fortress of Fort Grey which is now a shipwreck museum. From here it is another long sandy beach up to L’Eree headland passing Lihou Island and another trench and tower system. Note that due to limited accommodation at Perelle Bay (unless you have a minimum 2 night stay) it will be necessary to bus or walk (1.5 hours) to the hotel at Cobo Bay. Accommodation: You will stay at the well regarded hotel in Cobo Bay. The hotel has a beautiful location with possible sunset views and a great bar restaurant that spills outside onto a terrace on warm days.

This is a different day to the first two, it is a long walk, but unlike the others it is relatively flat allowing you to cover distance faster as you circumnavigate the bays and promontories to ultimately complete your walk around Guernsey. The route leaves Perelle and enters Vazon Bay, a beautiful sandy beach that you could follow for a couple of kms if the tide is out. The bay is popular with surfers. You then come to huge Fort Hommet, an interesting site with a huge Nazis searchlight and battery station built within a Victorian Fort and pre Victorian Martello tower. There is another long stretch of sandy beach at Cobo Bay before passing some smaller bays and walking around the Rousse Headland into Le Grande Havre. Until the early 1800s, this marked the point of a separate island now filled in so that you can continue your walk with dry feet. The route heads round Chouet headland passing gorgeous ‘Baie de la Jaonneuse’ and then extensive ‘Pembroke Bay’ with its antitank wall. Passing more forts of differing eras, the path becomes more remote before heading south again, reaching the café at picturesque Bordeaux Harbour before the last few kms into St. Peter Port. If you wish to shorten the distance with use of your map, you can bypass some of the peninsular forts saving approximately 5 km. If you prefer, you could end the walk on the coastal road and take an hourly bus into St. Peter Port. Accommodation: Return to your first nights accommodation La Piette Hotel. You will spend a further 2 nights here.

Herm is a gem of an island, no big forts, just an isle with a short cliff top walk followed by long sections on sandy bays and grassy commons, passing a couple of beach cafés. It is a 25 minute hop across on the ferry and the walk is short giving you enough time for a swim, or an extended lunch at the popular ‘Mermaid Tavern’. You may see puffins at ‘Puffin Bay’ and sometimes seals hang out on the northern beaches. You can also walk up the spinal road and take the woodland walk to the buildings around the St. Tugual’s chapel. Afternoon ferry back to Guernsey. You may choose to stay at the 'White House Hotel' in Herm, in this case you will need to take your own luggage onto the ferry and request with us.

Pack your things in the morning to take on the ferry to Sark. This is a larger boat than for Herm and you can book the crossings online. The ferry takes 45-50 minutes. Sark is in its own time-warp. It is a very special island, there are no cars, only tractors and horse carts and no street lighting. Due to this and its island position, the International Dark-Sky Association designated Sark as Europe's first Dark Sky Community and the first Dark Sky Island in the world (2011).This recognises that Sark is sufficiently clear of light pollution to allow naked-eye astronomy. It also means that you should bring a good torch! Sark has a quasi-feudal system of government under a Seigneur although they have recently tried to make it more democratic.This harks back to the late mediaeval period when a number of original families were ‘planted ‘on the island. Some of their houses still remain. Due to the nature of the island, geography and history of landownership, there is no continuous path right the way around it. Here the Channel Island Way does a kind of figure of eight. You can decide whether to do the walk today, half of it, or wait for better weather tomorrow. The walk takes you across a chasm via ‘La Coupee’ a dramatic walk way to Little Sark that will one day be breached by the sea. On little Sark drop down to the site of the silver mines at Port Gorey, enjoy a cream tea at ‘La Sablonnerie’ then walk round the wild coast up at the northern end of the island. You may have enough time to visit the gardens of ‘La Seigneurie’ before finding your overnight accommodation, a comfortable family run guesthouse.

More time to explore the natural wonders of Sark and the parts of the island you missed yesterday. You could do half of yesterday's walk today, or all of it if the weather had been too bad. Otherwise you could hire a bike or take a horse cart ride through the island. The horse drivers have to pass a driving test and have a great island Knowledge. Top speed 10 mph/16 kph. Chill out on the sea cliffs, visit ‘La Seigneurie’ gardens, the Sark Museum and one of several great cafes and restaurants.