Moo Moo Guernsey cow

Wednesday 1^st June

It was an early start to the day as we needed to be at the port to check in for the ferry ‘no later than 1 hour before departure’. We followed a huge queue of traffic headed to the port – surely they are not all going to Guernsey. Turned out that there was an electricity plant just beyond the port and that’s where they were all headed. We arrived at the port at 7.10 for our 8.30 departure and there was not a soul in sight making us wonder whether we were really at the right place. So we waited – and waited – and at 7.29 someone arrived and unlocked the doors. Thankfully by then we were not alone and knew we were where we were supposed to be.

The weather was pretty foul but the trip over was not too bad. I took a travel sickness tablet which was a bad move as it wiped me out for the day and all I wanted to do was sleep. Arriving in Guernsey we were greeted by UK immigration. Talking weather the guy told us it had been ‘rubbish weather’ the past 2 days. (Think rubbish – roobish as in oo in book).

First look at Guernsey - very low tide

We had tried to get in touch with the verger of the church we were going to for viewing the parish records of Rob’s Mum’s family, but hadn’t got onto her before leaving in the morning. Our first stop was the tourist bureau and when we asked them for directions to the church they said Susan had rung earlier in the morning and left a message for us to meet her at the church at 10.30.

St Sampson's church where some of the family records are held.

No family graves to be found - but apparently some years ago part of the cemetery slipped into the quarry next door. The inscriptions on a lot of the older headstones are illegible.

And we got to go up in the organ loft and have a look at the organ.

Rob was happy he was able to find a record of some of his Mum’s family in the records which is what he wanted to see. Susan gave us a bit of history about the church. After finishing there we took the bus that went around the island to have a bit more of a look at Guernsey. There was a cruise ship in town so the bus was crowded and not very comfortable.

2nd up from the bottom shows the baptism of Pierre LeMaitre on 5th April 1731. At least 5 or 6 greats - grandfather.

This cross is the only pre-reformation piece that the church still possesses.

The visiting cruise ship - we think mostly American tourists.

The car ferry from St Malo. Some of the people we met at the hillclimb were due back on this ferry but we didn't go to the port.

We visited the Guernsey Tapestries which is a series of 10 tapestries, each done by a different parish on the island, and each telling the story of a 100 year period. They were pretty impressive and beautifully done. Sadly we weren’t able to take photos.

I found these pictures online with google. If you google the Guernsey Tapestries you will find out more about them.

The trip back to France was uneventful – we are pretty special though as we had our passports stamped and no one else did.