• Wake up to beautiful blue skies
• Amy is so busy taking care of our breakfast that she has no time to
  take care of her own grooming

Bad hair day

• Too nice to go to Castle Cornet
• It is the perfect day for Lihou Island, a very small tidal island at
  the end of L'Eree headland on the west coast
• The tides don't get any better – we have low tide from 13:14 to
  15:53 almost 2 hrs and 40 minutes! You can only walk there 2
  weeks/month and sometimes you only have an hour and half for the
  round trip (about a quarter of mile on the stone causeway).
• We catch the bus out to the west coast of Guernsey
• Now I know why the curbs are so low – the roads are so narrow that
  the sidewalk is needed as a street extension when a bus passes a
  car. If there is no sidewalk, sometimes the car has to back up to a
  wider section for the benefit of all.
• Finally see my first Guernsey cows

30 MPH Guernsey Cows

• Many greenhouses were destroyed in a hurricane 30 years ago and
  never repaired or dismantled

Greenhouses

• De-bus near the start of the trail but wander around as we have to
  wait for low tide at 13:15

Lihou or bust

Guess who Lihou

• Beautiful beach views, fields of wild flowers, Colin Best Nature
  Reserve (a field with nesting herring gulls and geese), a mailbox
  (not exactly what we expected), rocky outcroppings

Approaching Lihou Island

Mailbox to nowhere?

• We pass an underground house with round air vents (but possibly the
  air vents are really solar tubes used to light a lower level, we may
  never know but Amy and I are agreeing on vents) and large
  rectangular sky lights on flat grass roof (the grass roof we are
  sure of)

Underground house with living roof

• Talk to 2 cyclists with the ‘BEST' bike fenders ever (according to
  them and they've tried many). They certainly look like the best
  (Defender XC11-29er)

Best bicycle fender ever

• Next on to Le Creux es Faies as in the cave of fairies – Prehistoric
  passage grave – tomb built during the Neolithic period c 4000 to
  2500 BC, not meant for tall people

Entrance to Le Creux es Faies 1

• Amy finds a geo-caching box inside
• The way it works is you can take something out but have to leave
  something behind and people then sign the list as to their name and
  where they are from
• I leave a Band-Aid but as there are no gold coins left, I leave
  empty handed

Sherrie Geo-Caching

Geocaching in Le Creux es Faiies

The Four Fairies

• We wander around a bit more awaiting the tide to go out enough so
  the path to Lihou Island is exposed
• As if by magic a path begins to appear

img=./large_1-P1010976.jpg
caption=Lihou Island 1]

Lihou Island 2

• A marsh harrier (I think) flies overhead – I take this as a good
  sign

Marsh Harrier

• Being a bit impatient, Amy wants to start out before the lowest tide

Amy starting out before the causeway opening time

Impatient, Amy looks for another route

• We have to wade through a little water and mud at times
• The tide pools are very colorful and full of crabs, limpets (snail
  with a conical shell), anemones, and winkles

Tide Pool

Winkles and The Red Creature from the Lihou Lagoon

Dinner

Limpets

• We have to carefully pick our way across as there is still water
  covering some areas

Maybe we should have waited a little longer

Herring Gull #6058

The path less travelled

What causeway?

Am I in Mongolia yet?

• A tractor comes across carrying a small tub of supplies in a trailed
  wagon. It almost gets stuck

Making tracks

Four all lined up

• The next 2 hours and 40 minutes are well used – wandering and
  investigating every nook and cranny on the path around the island
• Our great bird watching eyes spot nesting herring gulls and great
  black-backed gulls, some with eggs, others with chicks, Eurasian
  oystercatchers and a lot more gulls

Gull in a nest

A + B = C

Oystercatcher

• We picnic on PB&J, biscuit crackers and apples

PB&J

• There is a house on the island so if you don't mind being stranded
  between tides you can sleep here if it isn't booked by school groups
  (probably where the tractor was going)
• Flowers are in full bloom

An Amy in the hand

Peek-a-boo

Gotcha

Just a nice view

Oyuna at the Priory

The Fabulous Four

• As we re-approach the causeway, a late comer in a hurry to see Lihou
  before the tide change, makes a bad choice of paths and ends up knee
  deep in a pool of water

Finding a path?

• We choose another path
• We actually leave the island a few minutes early to allow us to
  cross back slowly without any thought of getting swept out to sea
  with the current which comes in from two different directions across
  the causeway
• Honestly speaking, we continuously think about getting swept out to
  sea with the current which comes in from two different directions
  across the causeway

Now I see it

Stranded

Are we back yet?

• I hear 4 sighs of relief when we reach the mainland

The Four Soles

Tide on the way in

• Having barely recovered from our Lihou Island adventure we embark on
  our next one
• The sign on our path says something like "Your life is at risk if
  you proceed"

We risked it

• That was an open invitation for us to proceed
• We follow trenches to a bunker which has seen better days

Oyuna finds a house

Looking back at Lihou as the tide comes in

• How can your life be at risk when there are scarlet pimpernels on
  the path (the real flower, not the book)
• Others on our nature list for the day: 1 dead rabbit, geese,
  shelduck, cormorant or European shag, kestrel, swallows, North or
  South African gladiolas, I forget which one, blue butterflies
• Did I mention that Amy got pooped on by a gull again – this time it
  also got the cooler backpack which she uses to carry our lunch –
  luckily we already ate. Amy is not happy
• Ian from Bordeaux (Guernsey not France) is one of the many residents
  giving help to 4 women travelers in distress
• After directing us, he awaits his bus
• We head off on foot in a different direction and eventually hop on a
  bus just to ride around the northern coast on our way home
• Coincidentally Ian gets on the same bus at the next stop.
• The ride past Coho Bay is beautiful but no time left for a stop
• Le Dehus Dolmen, another prehistoric passage grave/burial chamber,
  is somewhere on our way back to St Peter Port
• Ian tells us it is in Vale on his way home to Bordeaux and he will
  take us there
• Just a short walk from the bus stop we all duck down (except Judy)
  and enter our second 5000-year-old Dolmen of the day. This time
  there is a carving of a man in the ceiling.

Visiting Le Dehus Dolman

The 5000 year old man

• Outside we can climb on top of the mound and see Alderney, Normandy,
  Herm, Sark and Jethou
• Just a little tidbit from Ian – the man who invented the envelope
  making machine was Warren De La Rue from Guernsey
• Back to the bus stop we head towards home again. We pass the area
  called "The Bridge" referenced in the book "Ebenezer Le Page" (now a
  shopping area). There used to be an island there but the channel was
  filled in in the 1800's connecting the island to the mainland but
  the name "The Bridge" stuck. By the way, Judy and I both loved the
  book.
• As the bus enters St Peters Port I spot a recommended restaurant,
  "Absolute End"
• It is supposed to have the best selection of all the local fish
• Push the bus buzzer and watch as the restaurant disappears behind us
• When the bus finally stops we file off and hike back, food being the
  only thing on our minds
• They are much more civilized with their early bird dinners here as
  they run from 4:00 until 7:00
• Judy asks if we can still order the early bird as it is within a
  minute of 7:00, at which the owner or manager says – "don't worry I
  don't have a watch"
• I treat myself to a delicious dinner of prawns and monkfish
• A long walk back helps us digest the big meal as well us give us
  good numbers on the Fitbit
• Back at the Albany House
• Generally people complain that the TP is on the roller in the
  "wrong" direction. Well here there is no roller, just a vertical
  holder with several rolls in it. I enter the bathroom, the TP roll
  is on the floor. I pick it up and put it back in the holder. The
  next time I enter, it is back on the floor. I pick it up and put it
  back in the holder. Finally, getting tired of this game, I put it on
  the shelf behind the toilet. The next time I enter, it is on the
  sink to my right. Not wanting it to get wet from the faucet, I put
  it back on the shelf. Next time it is back on the sink. I will not
  mention any names but I will not give up on my fight for TP
  dominance.
• FitBit: 6.75 miles, 17,075 steps, 41 flights