Sark - The last Feudal State in Europe

And on to Sark - 0700 departure in order to be able to cross Guernsey Harbour’s tidal cill, but not a breath of wind so we motored the 7 miles to Sark.  We were headed for Havre de Gosselin landing which is bordered on one side by Brecqhou Island, owned by the Barclay Brothers who apparently also own the Telegraph and the Ritz Hotels.  Owning an Island clearly gives you the right to build what ever you want on it, and these two old boys allegedly live in splendour in their very own Disney Castle!  There is rumour they wish to be Feudal Lords themselves.

Disneyland, Sark

Havre de Gosselin landing - our tender cautiously carried up the landing steps as our painter wasn't long enough to cope with the phenomenal tidal range here, and we didn't want to come back and find the dinghy either hanging from it's painter or the alternative of having to swim down to untie it!  It's all in the planning!!

Sark seems to be an undulating rocky plateau surrounded by cliffs on all sides, so it was up the 299 steps as a warm up, then off to investigate ...

There are no tarmac roads on Sark, only dusty paths used by tractors, cyclists and horse drawn carts.  We came across toddlers and octogenarians on bikes that all seemed to date from at least the turn of the century - universally covered with dust!

The Highlights ...

The Prison:  A.D. 1856

Sark Prison - no computer suite, no library, no running water and by the look of it, not an abundance of natural light!  A natural deterrent? Although we didn't actually see any Officers on the Law on the island.

There is one Doctor on the island, and the job comes with its own Company Vehicle - any of our Doctor friends fancy applying for a sabbatical ?

Abbie greets one of the Carriage Horses.

Ian attempts to blend in with the local flora - Guernsey visible in distance, Isle of Jethou on right.

Apparently there is a light house on the East coast, but we never managed to find it!

Despite being an island of 4.5 square miles with a population of about 600, Sark has it's own Golden Postbox, thanks to the Dressage success of Carl Hester in the 2012 Olympics

The absolute highlight of the visit was the isthmus of Little Sark - possibly the only bit of German Concrete that any one on the island will ever be grateful for!

This concrete path links Sark with Little Sark.

The path is actually narrower than it looks in the photos!

Back to the boat, we spent the most uncomfortable night ever - the wind picked up and the swell came into the bay, crashed into the cliffs and bounced back causing a very confused sea.  It was variously described by those on board as feeling as if you were in a cutlery drawer being shaken by a Giant, or being in a tumble drier!

You live and learn ...  (to pay more attention to weather forecasts, if nothing else)

And the next stop will be Jersey, just in time for the 9th May Liberation Day Celebrations