Channel Islands - A Damp Day on Herm

Another early start this morning, we were in the theatre at 7am waiting for the go-ahead for our day trip from Guernsey to Herm Island, about a 20-minute journey from St. Peter Port by ferry.  

Looking out of the balcony this morning we realised that the weather was looking very grey and murky.  We dressed accordingly with walking trousers, waterproof jackets, boots and our walking sticks.

After a slightly bumpy tender from the ship to the shore, we met our tour guide Viv and waited for our ferry to Herm.  This eventually turned up and we were on our way!

We arrived at the Fisherman’s Beach Harbour and began our walking tour, taking in the White House Hotel with its links to the Ford Motor Company and then we walked up through the small shopping and eating area where we arranged a meeting point for those who wanted to go off and do their own thing.

There are no cars on Herm, but they do have tractors and quad bikes – handy when most of the roads are sandy tracks!

We walked along to Bear’s Beach and Shell Beach where a few brave souls dared to have an ice cream.  The weather was now starting to close in and it was drizzling quite happily, so we were glad for our waterproof clothing!

We then walked up the steep spine road of the island, passing fields of cows and the odd few rows of houses and outbuildings.  There are only 50 residents living on Herm, but they do get quite a few youngsters working on the island for the summer season.

We also passed through a few of the holiday cottages and took refuge from the rain in St. Tugual's Church.  But the rain kept coming and it seemed to be getting harder and  the wind was starting to whip itself up!  We headed back to the shopping area & stopped for a drink & a bit of free wi-fi.  After a short walk we re-joined the ferry at the Rosière Steps and set off back to Guernsey.

On arrival back in St. Peter Port we had a 10-minute walk to the tender access point, a different place from where we had arrived on Guernsey.  As we walked along the dockside, the rain was becoming heavier and heavier.

We then spotted the long, snaking queue of wet umbrellas that we had to join to get back on the tender boats.  By the time we reached the front we were saturated and were very glad to get back on the ship after a bumpy trip back on the tender boats.

We got ourselves dried off and found some lunch in the Horizon Court to warm us back up.  After that it was time to get ready for formal night and the captain’s champagne waterfall party.  We enjoyed bubbly and canapés before enjoying a show in the theatre – probably the best show we’ve ever seen on the cruise ships.

We then had a very late dinner, but got served very quickly each time and, 5 courses later, we were absolutely stuffed full and decided to head off to bed ready for our stop in Cobh (pronounced 'Cove').