The weather forecast suggests that the rain will hold off until mid-afternoon, so we decide that we can choose an outdoor activity for today and opt for an exploration of the north coast, including a walk along some of the coastal footpath. We start to work our way up the east coast stopping at a few bays on the way, making the most of the fact that parking is free on a Sunday. We stop at Verulet Point and take a quick look at a small craft market. Then it is on to Rozel and Boulay Bays in the north east. At this point the direction finding gremlins strike again. I am sure St John’s village is very pleasant and all that but driving through it from different directions no fewer than five times might have been overkill. Just as we locate the proposed start of our walk and four hours before schedule, it begins to rain. We decide to drive along the coast instead, not that we can see much through the mist. Still, I guess we have been very lucky with the weather so far. A couple more passes through St John’s for luck and we appear to be heading westward.

We make an unscheduled stop at the Lavender Farm in the south-east of the island. We view the impressive herb garden in the rain. Even finding that from the reception was a challenge. ‘Turn left‘, the receptionist said. She must have as much difficulty distinguishing her left from her right as I do, as we nearly ended up in the café kitchen. Once we’d turned right we were on track. A video in the lavender distillery tells us that it requires a massive 100kg of lavender flowers to distil a litre of lavender oil. I have tried distilling herbs, seventeenth century fashion but if 100kg of flowers are needed, I don’t think I will be going into commercial production any time soon. Apparently this is the second oldest lavender farm in the British Isles. In the interests of trying local cuisine, I order some lavender and honey ice-cream. This is probably an acquired taste and one I haven’t quite acquired but it is not unpleasant and one can certainly detect the lavender.

We manage to navigate back to the apartment without incident and spot a red squirrel on the way. The rain sets in in earnest and the late afternoon is spent on catching up with paperwork.