Neil did the usual spring work, repainted the anti-fouling etc with some help from Michael towards the end.
We left Caen with a full ship, wondering whether to sail to the Channel islands, or to stop again in France.
First stop after leaving Caen was Omonville, at the NW corner of the Normandy peninsula. It is a pleasant anchorage, with one bistro, but not particularly interesting.
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Next day we headed for Alderney, and had our first experience with Channel Island tides. We hit about 11 knots passing the NW tip of the peninsula, but misjudged the tide and were carried several miles south in the Alderney Race, and had to wait till the tide turned and carried us back North to be able to enter Alderney.
The harbour entrance is "guarded" by abandoned fortifications built by the Germans, but never used, since the Allies simply by-passed the island in the invasion, leaving the garrison to rot and finally surrender.
This fort from the Napoleonic era has been converted into a large private residence.
The ugly square block on the top of the hill was built by the German occupying army during the second world war.
The harbour on Sark was built in 1595, and can be accessed from the island only through a tunnel cut in the cliffs.
The original tunnel is on the left, and a more modern one has a white arched entrance.
The harbour is close to dry at low tide, and is not well sheltered, so we did not use it.
We were the only boat in this anchorage, and one of only two boats on the East coast of Sark that day. The West coast was untenable due to wind.
Weather was not great, and landing in the surf proved impracticable the second day so we moved on to Guernsey, six miles away.
Most of the roads are quite narrow, and many are well below the level of the fields for some reason. A bike is better than a car for getting around much of the time.
This is a shot of the small island of Herm, from Guernsey.
From Guernsey, we sailed overnight to Falmouth in SW England, then on up the Irish Sea.