With the news that Guernsey had opened up to visiting yachts from the UK we decided to head to Salcombe for one night then cross to Guernsey.
We left the Yealm at 0930 and sailed E into an E/NE 3-4 wind. We tacked into Bigbury Bay and anchored W of Burgh Island for lunch. It was a hot sunny day and the beaches were quite crowded. We weighed anchor about 1400 and sailed for a couple of hours before the wind died and we motored. We anchored overnight by the Saltstone in Salcombe - a very peaceful quiet evening.
We weighed anchor at 0500 on 20th July to head for Guernsey. There were only light winds and we motor sailed most of the way to catch the tide around the S of the Island. At 1600 about 1M SW of the Hanois Light on the SW corner of Guernsey the wind picked up and we were sailing at last. 20 minutes later the wind died to an eerie flat calm. We motored the rest of the way arriving in St Peter Port at 1830.
Looking towards Hanois light
We spent a week on Guernsey looking round the island using the excellent bus service and moving from St Peter Port to Beaucette Marina where we used our folding bikes to sight see and go shopping.
Shadow in Beaucette Marina
On Tuesday 27th July we sailed to Alderney via the Swinge to the N of the Island with the intention of staying a few days before crossing the channel. Unfortunately the forecast didn't look too good after a couple of days on the island so on Thursday 29th we sailed back to St Peter Port in Guernsey for to shelter from the weather.
Although the weather was pleasant in the Channel Islands it was still wet and windy in the N of the Channel so we decided to visit Sark. We had a pleasant sail around the S of the island picking up a buoy in Le Greve de la Ville bay. We dinghied ashore and had a pleasant Sunday evening walk around. That night the swell came into the harbour and we had quite an uncomfortable night. In the morning we left to go back to St Peter Port - another pleasant sail this time around the N of the island.
Moorings at La Greve de la Ville, Sark
Tuesday 3rd August saw us leaving Guernsey for Alderney once more, again via the Swinge. When we got there we found that all the mooring buoys had been taken. Fortunately Falken had got there the day before so we were able to raft up to them.
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