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| Fort Grey |
Travelled to Weymouth to stay overnight with Dave and Josie at their guest house, ready for the early ferry in the morning. Invited for a night cap of Whiskies – the real Mackoy, akin to nitro, made more entertaining by Dave recovering chunks of Larvikite from his 3 foot deep aquarium – after double checking the piranhas were in the other section!
Not sure how I managed it to a 5.30 am breakfast after having a herd of elephants trampling on my head all night.
200 yard drive to the ferry terminal, (lucky I didn’t get stopped!) and squeezed into the tightest corner seats on he boat, next to the outside door which slammed shut approximately every 30 seconds with people desperate to see the sea for the next 3 hours, especially a horde of fidgety scouts – the elephants were a doddle in comparison.
"Who Wants to be a Millionaire", on the lap top, helped while away the hours and take my mind off my queeziness, which could hardly be attributed to the mill pond sea conditions we were speeding over. Colin played the audience and phone a friend and knew everything! I still blew £64k.
After the scouts disembarked it was obvious none of them could have taken their " house tidy badge", but at least they didn’t sing "I am the music man .. " or light any fires.
The Marton Hotel was only about a mile away from the dock but it took ages to negotiate all the one way streets and road work diversions. Heather fell asleep on the bed wearing her glasses, which got severely mangled. Spec Savers in the town managed to straighten them out, but couldn’t do anything about her face!
Got a " rover " bus ticket for the afternoon to recce the island. Had a look at Fort Grey, (it was) and had a browse through Guernsey Pearl and Guernsey Copper / Brass. Also caught tantalising glimpses of chambered tombs behind the beaches. The bus driver’s radio kept a running commentary of what all the other employees were planning for the weekend - just as well we plumped for hire cars, since none of the options discussed involved driving buses.
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| Fort Grey |
Friday morning we walked to the museum, with Nigel leading the way from memory. I think he forgot that one way streets don’t apply to pedestrians but we got there eventually. Nicely laid out exhibits, particularly on prehistory and a visiting display of a BBC Wildlife photography competition. I took a particular interest in the local rock types on view and committed their appearance and names to memory ready for this afternoon.
After lunch we met the rest of the group at St Peter’s Church for a building stones walk around the town, guided by Dave. Not my cup of tea really, but I amused myself with thoughts of the CCTV coverage of us examining bank and building society doorways and windows with unusually close interest. Blew my chance to impress with my knowledge of local stones, getting most of them wrong when asked. They looked different in the glass cases ! I did better with the "erratics", immediately recognising Portland limestone, Purbeck Marble and Welsh slate – not bad for a taff living in Dorset. Finally achieved my boyhood dream of emulating Harry Worth in Woolworth’s doorway.
Had an hour or so of "real" Geology on the beach to the west of the harbour in Havelet Bay.
Dinner that and every evening, was superb, with brilliant banter up and down the table. Guests from the Societe Guernesiaise were completely put at ease by the convivial company all around them. Heather cracked a few politically correct skunk jokes, but otherwise behaved impeccably. It does give me a warm glow to be associated with such a nice bunch of people.
The next two days were a whirl of granites, dykes , diorites, veins, aplites and pipes, raised beaches and loess, (all comprehensively covered elsewhere) and interspersed with hot chocolate and chips to keep out the chill.
Monday saw seven of us break away for some archaeology. Amazing locations, only just off the beaten track that would have taken ages to find without Pat as our guide. The sunshine gave us a glimpse of the real splendour of the Island.
Our late night ferry was going to be even later due to technical problems, but another game of "team millionaire" got us through, with Ed, Janet and Sally scooping the jackpot just before the battery ran out – bet it doesn’t happen to Chris Tarrant., but it speeds up the answers!
Finally, a very sanguine game of I spy ended on F (fire extinguisher.. feet.. Frank ) when the ferry slipped into the dock, almost unnoticed, at 1.30 am.
George Raggett