Today was another late start; we were off to catch the 12.15 ferry to Herm. Unluckily for Rosemary, who had vetoed my recommended bus as far too late to catch the ferry; we arrived in St Peter Port with ample shopping time. A quick walk up the steps to Pollet Street, a few minutes in Jessops, and Steve was away with a 10-20mm Sigma lens. Back to quay and a cappuccino coffee for Rosemary. The day was sunny with some nice photogenic cumulus clouds, though a little chilly with the Northerly wind. Ferry to Herm, walk to shell beach for a fairly mediocre shell collection (but with a partial ormer), tide was high. We ate a picnic on the beach, provided by Messers Marks and Spencers, and a gentle walk back around the South end of the island. We were entertained by the antics of one of Her Majesty’s destroyers who seemed to be practicing turns and manoeuvres in the sea between Herm and Sark. Good view of the Barclay brothers castle. They apparently ship their staff in from Guernsey by helicopter, and send it out for bottles of olives when their supply falls short. Back at the harbour we caught the 4.35 ferry back to the Guernsey as the sun was setting. Some opportunities to use the new lens for some cloudscapes. Back in the flat a couple of G&Ts, and then supper of Cajun-ed left over chicken with salad.

Not very promising weather today, low cloud and very poor visibility, though some aircraft were landing and taking off.  We caught the bus to the top of the road which leads down to Petit Bot Bay.  When we reached the bay, we found a group of women were congregating for their Monday walk, dressed in shorts and tee shirts and talking of stripping off when the heat burnt through.  They invited Steve to join tem, but he chickened out.

We set off in the opposite direction  to the walking party and we went towards St Peter’s Port.  We walked along the cliff path in the cloud, the warm mists constantly swirling up the cliffs from the sea made the walk into a stroll through a Turkish bath.

Eventually made it to The Auberge restaurant on the Jerbourg road for luncheon.  Normally, there’s a fabulous view, but not today – even Castle Cornet eventually succumbs to the fog. But we were undaunted and started with a quick refreshing pint of lager while we ordered our meals.  I am afraid we went the whole hog and went for three courses with wine and coffee, though to keep costs down we chose from the tennerfest menu.  As we waited at our table, we sampled a snackrell of bread dipped into olive oil with tomato pesto, served cutely in a quirky plate.

Rosemary started with Crispy Aromatic Duck with a salad of salted cucumber plus honey roasted figs, baby spinach and spice plum and vanilla dressing, followed by fresh linguini with sautéed mushrooms, braised fennel, parsley and toasted pinenuts.  Steve chose the slow roasted cherry tomatoes in balsamic with basil, feta and olives, crispy parmesan, followed by grilled black bream, chorizo and coriander couscous salad, marinated carrot and courgette in lemon oil and tomato pesto.   Yummy.

The red wine we had to accompany the meal was, amazingly, from Telavi in Georgia. It is not often we see wines from Georgia.  Actually it was a good wine, and a lot better than what we had drunk when we visited that country.

The sweet course dishes were absolute works of art.  I took a picture of our sweets, and will publish them with this blog entry.  I ate, at the recommendation of the Latvian waitress, small, deep-fried doughnuts with a cappuccino flavoured mousse (served in an espresso cup), and a raspberry coulis dip (in shot glass).  Rosemary ate a spiced apple and pear crumble with special custard.  They sound over-ingrediented, but were again excellent.

After coffees and sweeties we caught the bus back to the flat, and vegged out for the rest of the day.