DAY 11 13 June Dinan - Mont Saint-Michel

We visited a small town Dinan that had local markets on the day that we visited. It had the Basilica of St Savour (it doesn’t mean much to me either).  

A visit to Dol-de-Bretagne, yet another picturesque French mountain top village with some quite old buildings where it started to rain slightly. 

The rest of the day was at Mont Saint-Michel, a rocky islet topped with a medieval monastery, where steps are unlimited as is the tide. Elizabeth's panoramas are special.

DAY 10 12 June Saint-Malo

Despite a grim forecast the weather resulted in only a passing shower or two. We had a walking tour through the town which finished at the impressive Château de Saint-Malo, which houses the town museum in its keep. There were a lot of good views from the town walls. It was fairly well destroyed during World War II.

There was a warship being launched the day we were there.  The museum was OK but there were several things they could do to improve it, like audio-visual presentations.

DAY 9 11 June Jersey – Saint-Malo

Elizabeth Castle is just off the coast was Walter Raleigh’s stronghold and was a refuge for Charles II, and played a huge role in Jersey’s history. We did not visit it as we have seen many castles and not enough time to fit it in. Instead, we visited the Maritime Museum and its occupation tapestry.

 One of those funfair mirrors.

Our next stop was Jersey Museum in the former house of a Merchant and was quite well done. The family had fallen on hard times and had to sell up. Apparently one Tripadvisor reviewer was disgusted that the contents were being sold off, believing that this was for real and not part of the storyline - idiot!  We thought the museum’s Jersey cream tea was a bit expensive. That was until it arrived and the two scones each were enormous!

This was part of the Celtic hoard recovered from La Houge Bie.

The Battle of Jersey took place in 1781 in the streets of the town between the British and the French. They fought it out in a square and there are still musket ball holes in the outside walls of the pub which is named after him.. Both French and British commanders were killed in the action, Major Peirson’s grave is inside the church and his French opponent’s grave was outside, but I forgot to look for it.  

We visited Fort Regent which is now a leisure centre and had a good view of the harbour of St. Helier and Elizabeth Castle in the background.

We reflect on the three Channel Islands that we have visited. Each has a different character, and this is by their own admission. Guernsey had a population of 60,000 and for the Germans was the most important, being the most easterly of the islands. Its capital was the very picturesque St. Peter Port. Sark was a small island with only 500 people and has no vehicles except for tractors. The sense of community is certainly different and almost medieval in some ways. Jersey did not seem as attractive with a lot more suburban areas, although this is where the money is, Jersey makes most of its money through finance.

Here is the pilot boat approaching Saint Malo and the French coast.

Rainbows over razor wire - welcome to France.

DAY 8 10 June Jersey

First off this morning, we learn about the “Jersey Lily”. We visited the grave of Lillie Langtry, born on Jersey and her father was the Deacon of the island. He allegedly had several affairs with female parishioners. She famously had affairs with the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), amongst others.

 For poor people who could not afford a burial service they would hold the service at the entrance, with the coffin propped up on the centre column.

At La Hougue Bie we discovered one of Western Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic sites, with 

prehistoric mounds and a museum packed with ancient treasures and the largest trove of Celtic coins ever discovered.

They also had a reconstructed neolithic building and German command bunker nearby is in the foreground that is dedicated to the foreign workers who lost their lives during the construction.

We had a brief visit to a Neolithic site that had an unusual double chamber.

Our next visit was Mont Orgueil Castle, which has stood over Jersey for over 600 years.

DAY 7 9 June Guernsey – Jersey

Our last morning on Guernsey involved visiting the German underground military hospital. It could house hundreds of casualties but they found it was unhealthy without sunlight and tended to be very damp. After a few days, they would remove patients because it was unhealthy for them to stay there.

The NHS wants their beds back.

St Mathew’s church was decorated by Rene Lalique in an art deco style and is quite spectacular.

We visited the Parish church of St Brelade which has 14^th century paintings, but the chapel originally dates back to the 6^th Century.

Visited some German coastal fortifications, including observation towers, including this one which has been re-purposed for the coastguard.

Our tour guide showed us the World War II memorial that commemorates Louisa Gould who hid an escaped Soviet prisoner and who lost her life in the Nazi Ravensbruck concentration camp as a result. This was the storyline of the film “Another Mother’s Son” which we can highly recommend.

We took a late ferry across to Jersey so we farewelled the Channel Islands.