St Peter Port; Thursday, 07 August, 2003

The only advantage of getting an early flight out is that you do get a large part of the day to do exploring. With the 9:40 flight touching down on-time and getting to the hotel a little after 11am, I had a full afternoon to start exploring Guernsey. First stop is the bus station to buy a multi-ride ticket, 50 journeys for £10 (20p each). Then it was off on the bus to the Little Chapel. This is a very kitsch attraction, built during the 1920's & 30's entirely out of broken pottery and china. A short walk from the chapel is something considerably less kitsch but from a similar era... The German underground hospital.

The fact that there is almost nothing here only adds to the sense of foreboding and menace that exists in the tunnels. Built, like its counterpart in Jersey, using slave labor many of whom died in its construction. Unlike Jersey's this has not been restored more than necessary. Water drips from the ceilings, beds and other metalwork rusts and the old tracks used to haul the carts loaded with debris from the construction are still visible. Also visible are several tunnels only partly excavated before the end of the war. The final thing that adds to the sense of menace is the temperature. No matter what the weather is like outside, its always 15°C inside.

After 45 minutes in there it is almost refreshing to step out into what is fast becoming the hottest day on the island ever (only to be beaten the following day and then again on the Saturday!) Next stop is the German Occupation museum located near the airport. Unfortunately this requires you to travel all the way into St Peter Port and then back out again!.

The museum is located down a little side street. The museum gives a well presented oversight to the war and how it affected the residents of Guernsey. The museum has lots of information but suffers slightly from the look that it hasn't been updated since the early 80's with some of the information signs needing a bit of repair.

After the museum it was time to hop back on the bus. Guernsey busses have been designed to criss cross the island, centering on St Peter Port. However one route (Route 7/7A) goes round the outside of the island (7 - Clockwise, 7A Anti-clockwise) giving invaluable links to most parts of the island. From the museum its about 35 minutes by bus to the North west coast of the island and the Rousse martello tower.

One of the many martello towers built around the island this has been turned into a small display of what life would have been like when it was in use at the time of the Napolionic wars. Wax works within the tower show how cramped life would have been like and the nearby magazine store has information boards giving a background to the Rousse tower and the martello towers in general. After a quick wander round the site and the nearby beach it's time to hop back on the bus, complete the clockwise loop and head back into St Peter Port