Intending to arrive at Poole in plenty of time for the ferry we made an early departure at about 7am, having packed the car the previous evening and allowing an extra hour on top of the required arrival an hour before departure. Packing was a fairly intricate process, since we needed to accommodate not only our suitcases and other baggage but the tandem and a time trial bike. Unusually, I stripped down the time trial bike (my Cervelo P3) and transported it in a bike bag. This was because of a lack of secure storage of the Cervelo while staying in the B&B in Jersey.

Unfortunately, the drive to Poole wasn’t exactly straightforward. In addition to the heavy traffic on the A34 near Oxford, we experienced some astonishingly heavy rain south of Chieveley and some real traffic challenges later. These challenges included a road traffic accident that threatened to block roundabouts with backed up traffic, but also a very slow-moving steam engine presumably making for the annual Dorset steam fair. On and some poor navigation by yours truly didn’t help a great deal.

We did make the ferry port bang on the appointed hour – and were surprised to be loaded straight onto the Condor ferry for Jersey. As it turned out, this may have been due to the order of loading being determined by visitors to Guernsey, where the ferry calls before Jersey. We arrived on time at St. Helier and set off down the road to St. Aubin, where we were staying four nights in the Ocean Walk guest house. Ocean Walk turned out to be a delightful place, and very convenient for St Aubin. It had an off-street car park with facilities for securing bikes to the wall, just outside our room. We unloaded everything and set off in search of an evening meal.

We’d been recommended Bracewell’s, a small restaurant just up the old St. Aubin high street. It turned out really very good! I had sushi for starter, followed by plaice while C had scallops followed by roast cod. I also sampled some very nice Liberation Ale, and for dessert some ice cream including a wasabi flavoured ice cream. A bit of a wet evening saw us beat a hasty retreat to the guest house.