At the start of the May bank holiday weekend, a group of fifteen Axe Valley Pedallers took a day trip to Guernsey. An early start was required as the fast ferry from Weymouth was due to leave at 08:00. Everyone arrived at the ferry port with time to spare and three tandems and nine solos were safely wheeled on board to set off for shores afar. We arrived in Guernsey just after 10:00 and made our way eastwards out of St Peter Port heading for Cobo bay. The busy town was soon left behind and the roads were good and the weather was dry but a bit overcast. The coastline at Cobo bay was soon reached and we followed the coast rode for about a mile before heading inland on one of the many very quiet country lanes with a 15mph speed limit. These are part of the Ruette Tranquille net work that covers many parts of the island and are a cyclists dream. The terrain was undulating and we soon dropped down into the beautiful Fauxquets valley and onto one of Guernsey’s treasures, the Little Chapel http://www.thelittlechapel.org/ .  A group of girls from the adjoining dance school were holding a fete to raise funds nearby and some great homemade cakes were on offer to tempt hungry cyclists. We felt the need for some coffee to go with the cake so we cycled on to a very nice establishment called the Pavilion Brasserie where we bumped into a very nice chap called Jensen Button.  Of course he had heard of the Axe Valley Pedallers and couldn’t wait to have his photo taken with us.  We were a bit reluctant at first, but he assured us that he did have a bike so we finally agreed.
 

As we had brought a packed lunch with us, we decided to find a suitable spot for a picnic next and set off towards the north coast looking for one. We enjoyed a lovely picnic in bright sunshine and headed back up to the northern part of the island and came across some sand racing at Vazon Bay. There were both motorcycle and car events and this kept us entertained for some time.  We followed the coastline further east and Foggie got her second puncture of the day which was a bit unlucky but some of the group took the opportunity to get their selves an ice cream to eat during the repair.

Further on we discovered Mince Pie was missing, so Redshanks, 66 and Foggie went back to investigate.  When they rejoined the main group, it was revealed that his shoe had become stuck in the pedal and he had taken a tumble but thankfully without major injury. We managed to get the offending shoe removed from the pedal and continued back to St Peter Port for an evening meal prior to catching the return ferry. We were very lucky with regard to the weather for the whole day, covered approximately 27 miles in total and had plenty of laughs along the way.