Jersey Cows and Pastures New

Having arrived late Saturday evening, exploration had to wait until the following day, Easter Sunday.  A brief stop in the tourist office in Liberation Square (which we could see at high tide from the pontoon) informed us of the following day's activity, a free guided walk of the harbours, and we had a quick walk around St Helier to get our bearings.  Which is when we found the source of the hoots, clangs, steam and bubbles(!) we had noticed the evening before:  A steam clock called Ariadne.  And she really does blow bubbles.  I had already decided that the afternoon was to be spent listening to the British Grand Prix, and as the sun was beaming down on the decks for a change, Chris agreed to a lazy afternoon on the boat with a couple of beers and bowls of pasta!

Some friends of ours happened to be on holiday in Jersey at the same time as our arrival!  The first opportunity to have visitors on board could not be missed and we duly arranged drinks on La Premiere followed by a fantastic meal in a local restaurant.  It was an excuse to open the champagne given to us by Julia and Tim at our leaving party, and Marilyn, Terry, Amy and Andrew are the first entries in our Visitors Log Book!

Part of what we thought would be our final day in Jersey was spent at the Zoo!  It is a preservation trust, founded by Gerald Durrell (My family and Other Animals), which is dedicated to saving animals from extinction, and many of the animals have been successfully bred there.  We had the most fun watching the orangutans and gibbons playing together.  They had their own island which meant there was no cage surrounding them.  The gorillas were amazing too, but I think Chris had a soft spot for the small black apes, one of whom was determined to reach the grass on the other side of the fence!

We planned to leave Jersey on Wednesday 26th April and the morning weather forecast seemed good.  By lunchtime, however, having bought diesel and moored up in La Colette Yacht Basin (which is deep water and can be accessed at all states of the tide) we realised that departure for Granville would have to be delayed.  The Jersey Met Office had broadcast a Strong Wind Warning for the Channel Islands and we didn't fancy motoring into the south-easterly force 5, occasional 6, only to arrive in the dark.