Never forget that all of St. Peter Port, the capital and principal town of Guernsey is BUILT ON or IN A HILL! Everywhere you go, shops, hotels, restaurants, any tourist spot, you will have to climb up and down steep hills, or lots of steps. So.... the knees are suffering but the calf muscles should be doing well. It isn't helped by the fact that it is fairly hot and humid, though they do get a sea breeze down by the shore.

Monday, I went and had a look at the Town Church; this is what it is called, it is probably dedicated to St . Peter (obviously!) but not referred to like that.
Then a climb up to see the Guernsey Tapestry, a millennium effort with 10 panels depicting scenes from Guernsey life in each of the 10 centuries since 1000, worked by people in the 10 parishes. There was very interesting information in it.

Tuesday, I took a guided walk around St. Peter Port; this was good as I was the only person so I got a one-on-one tour. I heard about Guernsey's history right from the time of William Rufus (William the Conqueror but before the Battle of Hastings) up to the German Occupation in WWII. This is still very much thought about, and they have a holiday on May 9, the anniversary of the day they were liberated by the British. This year was the 70th anniversary and I think they went overboard on it. I also learned a bit about the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and the difference between it and Jersey, and the relationship to the British Isles. It seems to me they have got the best of both worlds! It will be interesting to hear the same sort of information from Jersey next week .
In the afternoon, I took a bus out to the Shipwreck Museum at Fort Grey. this is a small museum but well presented, located in an old Martello Tower. The ocean off the south west corner of Guernsey is a positive graveyard for shipwrecks, from Roman times up to the Orion oil rig that came adrift from the barge towing it, in February 1978, in a storm. Also featured was an iron ore carrier, MV Elwood Mead, on her maiden voyage from Port Dampier in 1973, which ran aground off Guernsey. Though what she was doing down here, I'm don't know.

Wednesday, I went to Castle Cornet. This is an 800-year old castle at the end of a causeway off St. Peter Port. The castle has been damaged and threatened over the years, including a 7-year occupation by the French, a 9-year sojourn by the Bailiff of Guernsey in the English Civil War, when he decided to side with the Royalists when the rest of Guernsey was for the Parliamentarians. And then the Germans moved in in 1940. The castle houses 5 museums, and after a tour round the outside, I went into the museum devoted to the 201 Squadron RAF, Guernsey's Own Squadron . RAF squadron 201 was officially affiliated with Guernsey in 1939. The museum described the history of the squadron and described all the various aircraft they flew - I won't bore you with the details!!!

At noon everyday they re-enact firing the noon-day gun, or cannon, when two "red-coated soldiers" march to the gun and fire it -electronically now, but it still makes a big bang and lots of smoke, that impress most of the tourists!
In the afternoon, I went out to the northern end of the Island to one of the Loophole Towers, built between 1778 and 1779, to defend the Island against a threatened French invasion, when France sided with the Americans, against the British in the American War of Independence. 15 of these towers were built around the Guernsey coast and some are still accessible, including this one, # 11 at Rousse.

Thursday, it rained in the morning. In the afternoon, it cleared up and I went out to the German Occupation Museum . This is a well-presented private museum showing how the islanders lived through the 5 years of Occupation

Friday morning (since I was not scheduled to leave for Jersey until the 5.30 pm ferry), I went out to the German Underground Hospital. It is a rabbit warren of tunnels hewn out of the rock on which Guernsey is built, they are very damp, indeed wet now, but I don't think it would have been much better in 1944 when it was used for German casualties from the D-Day Landings. The only advantage the German patients would have had over any civilians would have been that they were underground. Three wards were laid out as they might have been at the time, and that was crowded. There were lots of side tunnels, used as store rooms, and as a kitchen, and a few unfinished tunnels.

Certainly Guernsey is still very much aware of the German Occupation, even after 70+ years, it has had a profound effect on the Island.