An Island Adventure with Visit Guernsey
“I dedicate this book to the rock of hospitality and liberty of that portion of old Norman ground inhabited by the noble little nation of the sea, to the Island of Guernsey...”
So, we knew a few little things about Guernsey, before we partnered with Visit Guernsey and agreed to escape London for a long weekend in their open waters. We heard that Victor Hugo spent some 15 years there in exile. And that his book ‘The Toilers of the Sea’ featured a protagonist who was at one point pitted against an enormous octopus. Calum had read up on the sudden terror of Nazi invasion, when the harbours were bombed and the Channel Islands fell under occupation. I also knew that this was an island of stoic swimmers, after a team from Guernsey smashed through and won the Movember ‘SwimTrek 60k Challenge’, which I ran back in November 2020.
Other than that though, we flew in pretty much blind and had our first sight of the island announced - on Thursday, September 16, 2021 - by a boulder-strewn coastline and a rounded patchwork of stone-walled fields, country houses and pubs, among those usual hidden plots of semi-dismantled barns and discarded machinery, which we knew well from a roving childhood in Cumbria.
The folks at Visit Guernsey put us up in the La Fregate Hotel near some of the best watering holes in town. The hotel was widely described as being in the ‘best location’. All floors were wrapped in tall-windowed rooms with balcony views over the harbour and the other southwestern Channel Islands, including the green ridges of Sark. Later, the pristine fine dining and breakfast area also served up an amusing contrast to mornings spent being punched from all directions by the seething Bailiwick’s seas.
Our weekend mission was to meet as many local island swimmers as we could and help wield the magic of digital media to promote their favourite spots - guided and protected under the wisened open water tutorage of Jacqui and Jennifer from Guernsey Swim Adventures.
Swim highlights
It’s easy to assume that everyone in Guernsey is a swimmer of some sort, carved by a life spent tugging tow floats out to sea. Aside from a little inland golf and the pastime of driving classic cars at the unanimous 35-mph speed limit, we were surrounded at all times by like-minded outdoorsy folk, who seemed to love nothing more than hitting the open water in numbers. While it’s likely some still prefer a more landlocked approach to island life, marooned by the ever-tempting briny, pretty much everyone we met was eager to rise early and stay up late for unique swims in untamed places (most of them in skins). And among those swimmers, there were plenty who shared their own toiler-tales from years spent charging over waves and combing serrated gulleys.
In the lulls between swims, we scoffed crab or bacon sarnies and heard countless stories of blue sharks and catfish met in the abyssal depths. There was even one swimmer who had recently swum over a long, silvery figure, which he suspected was a shortfin mako shark. Someone else had recorded a video of a similar sized creature, seen from a crag, and shared it on Facebook (we watched the video and sided with those who cried ‘shark‘ after looking more closely at the beastie’s movement).
Let’s play… Shortfin Mako Shark, or big ol’ Tuna?
HIGHLIGHT ONE // Fort Grey - Sunset Swim (Friday)
Distance: 803 metres
Swim time: 19:52 minutes
Pace: 2:28/100m
In Guernsey, they call it the ‘Cup and Saucer’ – a coastal fort found on the island’s western coast, built to defend the island way back in 1804. Now, it doubles as an ideal marker for a wraparound swim, starting and finishing in opposite bays, which allows you to return to wherever you stowed your dry valuables. The fort is backlit and looks beautiful at night, with the moon in view behind it. Supposedly, many ships have run aground on this stretch of rocky coastline and the fort/Martello Tower also houses a Shipwreck Museum, stashed with all kinds of trinkets recovered from sunken wrecks. We didn’t go inside the museum, but Jacqui did take us on a meandering circular route (almost 1 km), cutting bubbling wakes over kelp forests and limpet-spotted rocks. On the other side, we discovered a large, chained anchor, revealed at low tide. By that point the sky had darkened and the moon and stars were clearly visible over the fort. It was a really special backdrop!
HIGHLIGHT TWO // La Vallette Bathing Pools - Sunrise Swim (Saturday)
Distance: 825 metres
Swim time: 31:44 minutes
Pace: 3:50/100m
We woke early and bleary-eyed for a trip to the popular La Vallette Bathing Pools.
The locals have been headed down to this collection of tidal pools, harbour bathing spots and stone jetties for over 150 years. Located on Guernsey’s east coast, the bathing pools offer safe and protected areas for open water beginners, as well as more seasoned swimmers looking for a launch point for a longer distance, or even an oversea swim. At high tide, the water creeps up the escarpment and covers one of the pools entirely, which also has a diving board (locals joked about the surreal experience of swimming over it). When we were there that morning a dad and his son (pictured above) were enjoying a few shorter acclimatisation swims. Many were drawn to the salt water at sunrise, it seemed. And there were plenty of treats waiting (hot chocolate and bacon sarnies) in the terrace changing area after you finally emerged from the water. As you can see from our swim pace we were in no rush at all – we spent as much time diving down into the murk, trailing little fish and strands of seaweed, as we did threading across the surface.
It’s no surprise these pools were often visited by writer Victor Hugo, along with the world-renowned painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
HIGHLIGHT THREE // Port Soif Bay (Saturday)
Distance: 442 metres
Body surfing time: 19:01 minutes
Guernsey invites a variety of seaborne activities, from surfing to sailing, so we thought we’d branch out a little from swimming and hurl ourselves headlong into the sweeping pull of a few inbound waves. A short drive from our hotel (every swim in Guernsey is local, really), the tufted edge of Port Soif Bay emerged above a bend in the road and we rushed down the chalky rocks, startling a few small denizens of clear rock pools.
This west coast beach was sandy and soft underfoot, encircled by lumpy sand dunes. We swam out over the small ridges, kicking off a few smaller rocks, and were soon surprised by the size of the breakers that rushed in to meet us. We swam ahead of a few sets and caught the breaks. Then we swam out a little further to where a few spear-fishers and snorkellers were mooching around the shallows. It was a fantastic stop-off on our way to lunch at a nearby tearoom.
“[We were] surprised by the size of the breakers that rushed in to meet us...”
HIGHLIGHT FOUR // Petit Bot Bay (Saturday)
Distance: 2,326 metres
Swim time: 56:09 minutes
Pace: 2:24/100 metre
I guess you could say we’d been slacking off a little - body surfing and dipping at intervals in the local horseshoe-shaped bay. And so, Jacqui decided to give us a good ol’ frothy Guernsey baptism in the gullies and channels that sprawl along the coastline from Petit Bot Bay. The beach itself is idyllic - a real bucket-and-spade spot for all the family, shouldered by forested valleys and overlooked by sheer cliffs, topped with greenery. When you head out from the sheltered bay though, and leave those soft sands behind, things get a little wilder!
We spent almost an hour shooting through rock channels, riding and fighting a barrage of incoming waves. At times, we were tangled in mad sprints, pawing at each other’s bubbles and chasing Jacqui’s kicking feet with gritted teeth.
It was tough, but absolutely exhilarating.
HIGHLIGHT FIVE // Ladies Bay - sunset swim (Saturday)
Distance: 1,137 metres
Swim time: 29:32 minutes
Pace: 2:35/100 metre
Before the sun slunk down under the low-lying horizon, we drove on over to Guernsey’s north-east corner and met a large pod of swimmers for a dusk swim along the stretch of L’Ancresse Common. The sandy bay there is well-known among the resident wind and kite surfing communities - for swimmers, the serene bay offers a good distance point-to-point swim, dodging a few far-flung crops of boulders and ending at the slipway.
HIGHLIGHT SIX // The Peastacks - SUNRISE SWIM (Sunday)
Distance: 1,319 metres
Swim time: 28:31 minutes
Pace: 2:09/100 metre
We had our earliest start that weekend and traipsed down the carpeted hotel corridors to one of the toughest swims either Calum or I had done in years. That morning, it turned out we would be switching the annoying old ‘go big…’ motto for a somewhat less memorable ‘go big [then] go home’ approach...
Going big in Guernsey meant following Jacqui on a RIB to a deceptively unassumingly-named spot called ‘The Peastacks’. There we found six giant rock towers that split from the tip of the south-eastern headland and loped into a cauldron of white-crested waves and leaping froth. Above us were gun emplacements, perched on jagged cliffs (Calum described the ridges as a ‘stegosaurus spine’). And ahead of us was a gauntlet of gullet-shaped gullies and channels, gurgling a criss-crossing onslaught of ocean currents. Jacqui timed each frenzied stint of swimming to prefection. We battled in a line among the rocks and found the calm between each wave set. Though it was impossible not to be caught off guard and we bobbed at times and rode the swells, exchanging looks of nervous excitement. At one point, I broached the surface for just long enough to utter the words ‘oh God’ before being submerged again under another collision of waves. Again, it was a tough and testing swim! And, again, we swallowed more seawater than we’d stomached in years. Yet at the same time, it was all totally worth it for the adrenaline rush and the sense of pure adventure we all felt - kept safe by Jacqui and preserved by her lifelong knowledge of the area. Not to mention our being spurred on by her visceral enjoyment of swimming outdoors.
After the swim, we rode the RIB back to the harbour and enjoyed the company of seabirds and a lone dolphin, winding alongside the knobbled features of Guernsey’s sea-facing cliffs.
“Jacqui timed each frenzied stint of swimming to perfection. We battled in a line among the rocks and found the calm between each wave set...”
Looking back on the weekend, I’d say Guernsey is an unspoilt paradise for anyone who loves pushing off from rocky shorelines and giving in to the raw luxuries of the outdoors. In all directions, you can discover an island-wide appreciation for the life aquatic. It really was an immense pleasure to visit this place and be given such a unique and unfiltered experience of these rugged Channel Islands. We want to say a huge thanks to the awesome swimmers who shared stories and knowledge with us during our brief stay. Your hospitality was just incredible. Thanks to James Silson for filming our antics and being the Human Swiss Army Knife. And, of course, thanks to Visit Guernsey for having us along! One day we’ll be back (hopefully with the rest of the family) - ready to be hurled again into the briny wash that sprawls on your doorstep.
If you’d like to learn more about any of these swims, please click the map images above and follow the links.