Alison decided to take Peter to St. Malo for a day trip for his birthday.
However, on consulting the Condor timetable, it was clear that this would not be possible, so a “second best”(actually better!) solution emerged, involving leaving at lunchtime on May 17th and returning at 17:05 on 18th, which would give us a chance for a birthday dinner at our favourite restaurant and some shopping opportunities on the Saturday. This would involve a change of ship at Jersey from the Rapide to the Clipper, so we would not get back to Guernsey until around 20:00.
In the event, we had not realised that it was the Muratti in Guernsey and the Jersey FA negotiated with Condor to delay the Clipper’s departure from Guernsey to Jersey, meaning that we would be very late getting back home, so we arranged with Condor to move our departure to the Sunday morning, which fortunately would be a direct sailing and also a little cheaper.
So we decided to try the Ibis Styles within the walled city, as we would not have a car to park, and phoned the reservations department to add an extra night onto our stay.
Simon took us to the harbour and we had a good journey over and were able to walk the short distance to the Ibis, which must be the closest hotel to the ferry terminal. When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that our two reservations were for two different rooms, but the very helpful man on the desk arranged instead for us to have a room on the top floor (no lift!), which had a great view over the harbour.
Having checked in we took a walk around the city and found our restaurant, which had just been taken over and refurbished, but nevertheless seemed to have an excellent menu. so we booked for the evening and then continued our walk, finding La Belle Iloise shop and making necessary purchases, which we took back to our hotel (in a spare suitcase brought over for just that purpose).
Our meal was excellent and the service very personal, as the chef/patron came out to see us after our meal (which had been served to us by his wife). Definitely worth a return visit. They even provided a birthday surprise!
Having a full day on the Saturday meant that we were able to take the ferry over to Dinan and visit the market, which was on a grand scale. We met the Crankies in a nearby pub and then walked back for lunch on an the beach. back to the ferry and then a walk along the ramparts before heading back to the hotel. out later for dinner in the main square, where they were entertaining a group of Chinese tourists from a cruise liner moored in the harbour.
It was a very early departure at 07:45 on Sunday morning, although in fact via Jersey, (where we had to disembark, go through immigration and then reembark), arriving in Guernsey at 09:55 to be met by Charlie and whisked back home. Roz and Simon called in the afternoon and woke Pete from his slumbers on the lounger.
So the day trip ended up as two nights away, but was far more enjoyable for all, if a little more expensive!