Age of Sail - sailing vessels around St. Peter Port

The drive to work from my old house was always beautiful - through the old town and along the open sea front for two miles, then a left turn through the leafy lanes and done.

At the end of July though, it became even more interesting. Old sail boats and ships started to arrive. Unfortunately, as I was usually in a rush, I had few opportunities to take pictures - or even had a decent camera with me for that matter.

Thinking back to four years ago when I first arrived on the island, I saw a fair few Tall Ships passing through, but as everything else about Guernsey was new to me, I must have taken it for granted and then forgot about them completely.

A sailing colleague at work reckons they must all be on their way to a month long antique sailing vessel festival in Brittany - he says it happens every four years... can't wait for their return in september!

This gorgeous two mast was from Hamburg I think, the close-up is below. Chatted with them for a while, bad weather drove them into Guernsey. They stayed for three days, mainly in the pub...

The nice crew member I chatted to couldn't speak much English (and my German is nill!) but I think he said it was just shy of a century old, and was a fishing boat originally (at least I think that's what he meant...)

Three mast - just beyond Castle Cornet.

Sunset stroll and the boat race - the speed they took in their spinnaker sails as they whipped around the marker buoy was amazing!

My beautiful wife - and a lovely French ketch (I think...) this was full of school children on their annual trip to Guernsey.

And lastly: the view from our new (600 yr old) cottage. We'll miss town a bit, especially the tall ships when they come by... but I think we'll manage to cope.