Hot on Herm

Today is probably our last whole day here in St Peter Port and we spent quite a lot of it on the very small island of Herm. Owing to issues like tides, complex navigation (lots of rocks), crowded anchorages and general need for relaxation we went over on the ferry. Even on a very hot Sunday, with hordes of people on every ferry, Herm is still very pleasant and very quiet except for the motor boats and jet skis roaring about. The water is stupendously clear and we went up to the north of the island where rocks are scattered randomly across white sand and the water was almost warm enough for swimming. Well, I swam about six strokes but the boys swam for ages. The air was hot so no-one got cold, and we had a great picnic.

Last night we had a barbecue at the home of Robin Swift and his wife Michelle. We worked out that he and Sam first met at school 54 years ago. Robin is a really great guy, he designed and built his own boat and every square inch of his house is filled with books, pictures and other items which relate to the sea. Michelle prepared an impressive spread of salads and puddings, Robin grilled the steaks, and we sat outside chatting until after 11pm when Ben was almost asleep. Among the other guests was a chap called Brian, and it turned out that his ex-father-in-law was Sam’s chemistry teacher at Tolworth Secondary Modern school in about 1952. I know about this chemistry teacher because he used to fill a weather balloon with gas from the Bunsen burners to demonstrate some crucial fact, and when he showed it to Sam’s class the balloon burst and the boys had a great time smashing all the windows with chairs. He was a German who actually had quite an interesting history having refused to fight in the war; he became a military geologist in Belgium, and lied about his rank when he was captures so he sp[ent the rest of the War in an officers' PoW camp.

Tomorrow we plan a very short hop to anchor off Sark and then to leave from there about 2am to head down to Lezardrieux in Brittany, so it may be a while before I can post again. If it all goes quite please don't worry!