BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?

Subject: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 06:48 AM

I just realised I live near the ferry. I could go there really cheaply.

Is there anything there worth seeing? I never managed to sit through past the first five minutes of Beregerac.

There used to be a music shop that would sell musical instruments without the VAT.

I remember asking the shopkeer over the phone - is it legal?
he sad, it was - nearly...

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 07:24 AM

They are not part of the EU. Which is great if you're into tax evasion and not so great if you need health care - they are not covered by either the NHS or the EHIC. So you will need the same sort of health insurance as if you were going to Thailand or the US.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 08:24 AM

I've been a few times on Union Conferences, it's a great place but everything shuts down at 10pm even worse on Sundays.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 08:25 AM

Should have said ' to Jersey '

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 09:26 AM

"So you will need the same sort of health insurance as if you were going to Thailand or the US" (Jack)...or you take the risk - I have never purchased such insurance but understand that I may get caught one day...

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 01:15 PM

I went to Jersey for my birthday weekend back in the 70's, and late at night in St Helier heard live traditional music coming from an upstairs room. I went in, and found a great band playing Irish rebel songs for an end-of-season party for the domestics and hotel workers. Stayed late into the night, then back to the hotel, where I found that it was also the barmaid's birthday, so another party in progress.

One of the better nights.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 04:18 PM

A friend of mine was driving through Jersey when he spied a huge heap of rubbish in a front garden. On the heap was a large notice saying "On Loan From Tate Modern".
Somebody else said it was his favourite place for holidays because of the friendly people.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 07:48 PM

I saw something on the telly
about a forgotten underground bunker
where a mad nazi scientist was still conducting evil experiments,
creating monsters from the bodies of abducted passers by...

It was in colour, so it's probably recent enough
for the Channel Islands tourist agencies to neglect to mention
in holiday brochures...

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 08:24 PM

Oh, darn, and I was thinking of the Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California. I was hoping to go there one day a few years ago, and the sea was too rough for boats to make it there safely.

But Al, you're talking Jersey and Guernsey and such places, where one gets potato peel pie and such. I haven't been there, but I read the book....

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 09:16 PM

Joe, I thought the same thing you did. The book The Island of the Blue Dolphins was set there. And what about the song lyrics "Twenty-six miles across the sea. Santa Catalina is waiting for me!"

And having also read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," I would also.like to go to those islands. Lillie Langtry grew up on Jersey.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 04:39 AM

We had many happy holidays in Alderney. Prone to fog and not a lot to do if it rains, we got used to wearing waterproofs and enjoying walking. Lots of gannets and larks for birdwatchers, German fortifications for WW2 buffs, mineral railway reopened with tube trains for tourists and nerds, nice beaches when it is sunny, good food, friendly folk, often live music of a folkie kind.
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 12:24 PM

I get the message - that's why its cheap to get there.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 12:38 PM

Nevr been but would have loved to have visited Sark, the setting of one of my favourite books, 'Toilers of the Sea'
Must put them on my Bucket list before Donald Trump demands to be sold them to turn into golf courses
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 04:30 PM

I would like to got there one day because it is where my parents had their honeymoon.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 05:41 PM

i used to play in jersey and guernsey,i found it[at that time] best not to talk about the war

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 08:27 PM

Try Scilly (never "the Scillies" or the "Scilly Isles," by the way). They're lovely. All very low and gushing with wild flowers in spring. Tresco is the most commercialised but it's easy enough to stay on any of the others and island-hop on cheap boats, which abound. The Abbey Gardens on Tresco are a must. St Mary's is the biggest island (though you can walk right round it on a relaxing day) and has the most accommodation, but my favourite is St Agnes. You simply can't beat a ramble round St Agnes and Gugh on a sunny late-spring day. If you like camping there's a fabulous campsite there and an even more fabulous ice cream shop attached. It's a bit expensive is Scilly, admittedly. I imagine that he Channel Islands are too.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 08:28 PM

"Isles of Scilly" is OK...

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Oct 19 - 04:56 AM

I sailed as crew to the Channel Island of Catalina in a brigantine a couple times. Saw the wild bison, didn't see the flying fish!

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Oct 19 - 06:54 AM

Wrong Channel Islands Gibb.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Oct 19 - 11:16 AM

wow mudcat is a regular suppository of inside information

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Oct 19 - 05:49 PM

Suppository? Blow it out yo' ass, Donuel! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Oct 19 - 06:18 PM

The harpist and early musician Andrew Lawrence-King is from the Channel Islands. He put together a CD of the local music - problem is, there wasn't any (or, something like one song) so he had to pad it out with maybes. Not much potential for folk tourism.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 17 Oct 19 - 05:45 AM

Dave, I'm pretty sure I arrived at the Channel Islands I wanted to arrive at :) -- the ones that two Americans above me mentioned. Oops! I guess England isn't center of everyone's world.

On the far side of the island is a bay with a sunken Chinese ship. I already mentioned the bison that roam freely in public areas. More interesting than pubs closed at 10pm on a rainy rock ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 17 Oct 19 - 07:51 AM

Nor the USA Gibb, and spot on about the pubs mind, I had to spend a week on Jersey at a conference many years ago, didn't really enjoy it, at that time there was only one brewery on Jersey, The Anne St Brewery in St Helier, made and sold crap beer called ' Mary Anne Bitter ' but at least it was cheap.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Oct 19 - 07:33 PM

Spent a weekend in St Helier Jersey in January, also at a conference. The local department store was having their "Christmas night out" in another suite in the hotel, and another colleague and I managed to get into their late night disco!
That was about 1991: bought my watch in one of the tax-free shops for £22: it's still going strong, just needs a new battery every 2-3 years.
Would have liked to stay longer and explore a bit more.

And yes, Scilly: a friend owns a holiday home there on St Mary's, and we've been over several times. Great deciding "which island shall we visit today?" Bryher was a favourite. Not the easiest place to get to from Edinburgh: almost easier to go to Australia! Last time we did train to Penzance, then ferry, but it meant an overnight stay in Penzance the night before, and the night after sailing, Tuesday of one week, Wednesday of the next. The hotel messed up and altered our booking to 2 consecutive nights in the second week, so there was no room for us on arrival at about 8.30.pm!! You'd think they'd be used to people making bookings such as ours, being a ferry port? Fortunately I had email confirmation of precisely what we HAD booked, and they found us somewhere else to stay free of charge.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 06:15 AM

The Chanel Island of Jersey is a safe haven for the red squirrel. The authorities have suspended planks of wood from trees on either side of several country roads, high above any traffic, to act as 'squirrel bridges', avoiding unnecessary road-kill incidents.

Subject: RE: BS: Channel Islands - anyone been there?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 06:46 AM

Guernsey has a literary classic, G.B.Edwards' "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page". I lent my copy years ago to a friend who came from there and she never returned it. I guess she re-reads it every so often as a corrective for any impulse to go back.