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Tour de Guernsey: Easy riding on an island cruise excursion on two wheels

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By
Caroline Hendrie


PUBLISHED:

06:32 EST, 11 August 2013


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UPDATED:

06:32 EST, 11 August 2013

Bowling along the gorse-lined coastal path past golfers on the links, I could see stock cars racing on the beach below. Above me, a white biplane swooped in circles against the bright blue sky. It was a sunny Sunday on Guernsey.

When I booked the Explore The Northern Beaches By Bike excursion before boarding Fred Olsen’s ship Balmoral, I was confident that it would be in a sedate pace suited to the advanced age of passengers I expected to find sailing with this traditional British line.

Caroline Hendrie cycling at Le Grand Havre, Guernsey

Cruise to bike: Caroline Hendrie, with her iron steed, explores Le Grand Havre beach on Guernsey

But as I checked in on a Friday afternoon at Southampton, alarm bells started to ring. There were dozens of twentyand thirtysomething couples and groups joining the cruise to Honfleur and Guernsey, some heading for the gym as soon as we cast off.

I needn’t have worried. Far from finding myself left behind by aspiring Bradley Wigginses and Victoria Pendletons, I had an enjoyable morning of easy rides and frequent breaks with a group of nine mature, active types while the young folk stayed by the ship’s pools.

At our first stop, Le Grand Havre beach, we crept into a hide to see a blue heron and long-beaked shoveler ducks on a reedy pond. Later we all stooped through the narrow entrance into the unexpectedly cavernous Dehus Dolmen, a large, prehistoric burial chamber containing a mysterious face carved into a slab that is itself a recycled standing stone. A ten-mile loop brought us back to St Peter Port.

I celebrated my achievement with lunch at La Frégate hotel, keeping my eye on the lovely view of Balmoral at anchor.

Keeping up my gentle exercise regime, each morning I went up to the beautiful wraparound promenade deck to join the other early birds for the 8am Walk A Mile (four laps of the deck).

It limbered me up not just for cycling but also for sightseeing in Honfleur, where I spent the waterfront promenade to the beach, to the Eugene Boudin Museum, along cobbled streets crammed with shops and then around the food market in the square and the pretty old dock.

Balmoral keeps to a traditional timetable, with two sittings for dinner and – rare on cruise ships these days – a midnight buffet, which was very popular. After all, it’s hungry work dancing, late-night shopping in the ship’s boutiques and watching the shows.

On our last evening everyone dressed for formal night – including babies in sailor suits or frocks with net petticoats. And the queues to capture the memory with a family portrait certainly kept the ship’s photographers busy.

Travel facts

Fred Olsen (fredolsencruises.com) offers a range of minicruises to France. A four-night mini cruise, Paris Bruges Cruise Break, departs Dover on December 6 and visits Rouen for an overnight stay, as well as Zeebrugge in Belgium, before returning to Dover. Prices start from £399 and are inclusive of all meals and entertainment. 

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