There are two bus routes that go round the perimeter of the island - one clockwise, one anti-clockwise - and take about an hour and a half to do the whole loop. I got on the 12:23 one to town on the northern half of the loop, so got to see some of that area of the island. While on board the weather turned a bit chilly and cloudy and rainy, but thankfully it wasn't very heavy by the time we reached the town, and it was a short walk to where I planned to go for lunch.
I went to The Boathouse, right on the harbour. My peace and quiet of the last couple of days was broken, as it was a typical family-friendly seaside restaurant, busy and noisy with rushing staff. The weather made me fancy some comfort food, so I ordered fish pie; it was a bit expensive for what it was, but nice. To avoid the rain for a bit longer I ordered a crepe for dessert, just with lemon and sugar. Sadly, I tend to find crepes a bit 'too much' - quite heavy and with not enough filling: only half of it is 'filled' before being folded, and icing sugar is used which just disappears. When having pancakes at home I drench the whole thing in lemon juice and granulated sugar, so you can taste both the sharpness and sweetness, it's moist, and there's a crunch from the sugar. So when the filling is lemon and sugar, I prefer the British pancakes I'm used to, but maybe I should try a crepe with a different, more substantial filling one day, like the classic Crepe Suzette, or a galette (savoury crepe).
The rain had stopped by the time I finished, the clouds were dispersing a bit, and I had bought a poncho from the Tourist Information Centre, so I decided to risk taking a walk to Fermain Bay, which I had started to walk to on my day trip but turned back due to time uncertainty. I knew it would take about an hour so just hoped the rain would hold off! It did; the sun came out and stayed out. The wooded areas on the route provided some very welcome shade in the heat, and a couple of months ago would have been full of bluebells, which would be a lovely sight. There were also some wonderful views over the sea towards Herm, Jethou and Sark, from the clifftop parts of the route. After about an hour, and lots of climbing up and down steps, I reached the bay, a pebbly beach at the bottom of a valley - there isn't a car park, you have to get there on foot.
There's a café with a terrace, which had quite a few customers, but I sat down on the beach itself a little way off so I couldn't really hear them. As with Cobo Bay that morning, I just sat, and gazed, and watched, and observed, and appreciated, for a couple of hours. A group of boys in little sailing boats landed, maybe a group of Scouts, a local sailing school, or a school trip. The adult trip leader attempted to get them to organise themselves into two lines for ice cream - one for those who would like vanilla, and one for those who would like mint choc chip. I didn't pay too much attention, and understood his reasoning for giving them just two choices, but perhaps mint choc chip was an odd choice as opposed to just chocolate, as it took him a while.
At 5pm I left and made the ten-minute walk up the steep hill to the main road to catch the bus back to Cobo. This time I took the longer route that went round the south of the island, continuing the loop. I think I preferred this one, as it went inland slightly and I saw more countryside. It got me back to Cobo Bay around twenty past six, and I went for a bit of a wander along the beach - the hotel holds concerts on its balcony on Sunday afternoons during the summer, and the Blondie tribute band was still going when I arrived. It was due to finish at seven, though, so I just walked for a bit, found the fish and chip shop I planned to get dinner from, then went and checked in.
My room was cool and quiet, and I could just hear the live music still going, so I stayed in there for a while. Sorting out my things, I discovered that the little bag of Caragh Chocolates had split completely and the four remaining truffles were lying in the bottom of my backpack. I didn't have anything else to put them in for travelling the next day (and didn't think of just going down to reception and asking for some sellotape... isn't hindsight great), so I ate a couple. They were so delicious, wonderful, amazing, and I really enjoyed them, but I was quite disappointed that I felt I had to; I'm not a chocoholic, I prefer savouring small amounts of good-quality stuff less often, so I genuinely wanted to keep them and enjoy one a day because they were so excellent. I would save the last two for after dinner, and definitely order a box as a treat sometime.
The road outside, which is closed for the concerts, was in the process of being cleared up for re-opening, and a lot of people were still out on the hotel restaurant's terrace or in the street enjoying the evening with drinks and/or food. It was busy, but not too uncomfortably so, there weren't drunk shouty people around. It was an 80s tribute band gig on a Sunday evening in Guernsey, after all. Still, I didn't want to join them, I wanted peace and space. I ordered a chip butty and salt-and-pepper squid (cooked to order, and perfectly so!) from the fish bar, then plonked myself on the beach a bit further along where it was quiet. I sat there for the next hour and a half, watching the sun set.
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