Sunday 8 August 2010

Cars not included

With a great forecast, we decided that it was the day to head for Sark... the island that shunned cars completely, and decided instead to resort to bicycles and horse and cart for transport....

It was only a very short distance across to the island, so we set off at a time of convenience rather than a time to suit the tides... plugging into the tide for just 3 or 4 miles isn't a problem after all!

This was out first experience of getting close and personal with the rocks... previously, we'd been in quite wide channels, so it was with some trepidation that we passed through the first route towards Sark, the Muse channel... which is a wonderful 500' wide.... easy... and then into the anchorage... through a channel 200' wide... then finally a gap of 80' between rocks... gulp!

We had been heading for the bay called Gréve de Ville, where the locals have laid a few visitors bouys to attract boats into their area... I fancied the idea of a bouy simply becuase anchoring is a bit of a pain in an area with a tidal range of 10m, as you have to lay out so much chain to allow for high water....

It proved to be a picture postcard pretty bay... with a steep zig zag path up the cliff, that had SWMBO puffing!

A long walk around Sark followed (well as long as a walk can be when it takes 40 mins to walk from one end of the island to the other), including a visit to the Coupeé... the causeway between the two parts of the island... only its a causeway 400' up in the cliffs!... very pretty... and best of all... really really hot all day!

Then we returned to Morgana, had a great meal and glass of wine in the cockpit, and retired for the night.... to be treated to the most rolly night I have ever experienced... what had been a perfect day was spoilt a little, as both SWMBO and I struggled to sleep as the boat lurched 30degrees in either direction.... still we were there... another 'must do' ticked off....

Miles logged 12nm
Miles this trip 252nm
Miles this season 629nm
Miles since this blog started 5,209nm

1 comment:

  1. must not let my wife read this as we also spent a night anchored off sark (derrible bay) with my reassuring my wife that with the prevailing wind it would not be rolly - was true - ish - until high water early next morning when woken by the movement - you have made me feel better as we had originally planned to be where you were and if it had been really rolly I would have been in big trouble

    ReplyDelete