Birthday celebrating with music and laughter in Sark and Guernsey

It was my birthday last Thursday, the last day of June, and I was spoilt as usual - thank you to everyone for the cards, gifts, thoughts, texts and emails. I found it all a little overwhelming to be honest, never easy to be the focus of attention, even if it is only for one day!!

After a birthday Yoga practice and teaching a Yoga class, I went for a magical swim with Chris at Petit Bot. The sun was shining and it was low tide so we swam around to Portlet (the secret beach that no one ever visits as you can only access it from the cliffs at low tide) and walked up onto the sand, the only people to probably step on that beach that day, before swimming back to Petit Bot and spending the next hour trying to warm up!!



I enjoyed the sunshine weeding in the garden before Ewan came home from work and we set about preparing for our weekend trip to Sark. My parents popped around with cake before dropping us and our ridiculous amount of luggage to the boat. We were not the only ones going over a day early to the Folk Festival but we still managed to have our choice of pitch for our tent at La Valette, with views overlooking Alderney and France, bliss!! Ewan took me for a lovely meal that evening and we were treated to incredible views of the starry sky from our tent.



The Folk Festival was blessed with sunshine once again and while we spent much of your time hanging out at the festival site and chatting with friends, especially Hayley and Mike, we did make an effort to go swimming in the sea each day which, for me, was a particular highlight. Each morning we trekked down the cliff path from our campsite to the bay below, which was beautiful, high tide, clear sea, very few people, beautiful swim - in fact on our last morning we were the only people and the tide was super high and we were able to swim on our own and feel totally and utterly free.


Sark is a beautiful Island there is no doubt. Time slows down almost immediately and any cares and worries seem to slip away. Admittedly going to Sark for the Folk Festival does not mean you necessarily get away from it all as there are a thousand other people from home over there too and of course small communities being small communities,m you tend to recognise quite a few others so no chance of the anonymity I crave from time to time. It was fascinating to notice how many Yoga practitioners were also over there, I guess the energy of the Festival attracts a certain person!



I taught a Yoga class on Sark to a few of the locals - it was great to have this opportunity and hopefully means I will have an excuse to visit Sark more regularly in the future - great to meet new people who share a common interest too. One morning Ewan and I saw dolphins from our campsite, now that was fairly special, seeing them dive their way past in the sea below. I was also able to practice Yoga outside our tent with views of Alderney and France in the distance, my life is indeed blessed - with gratitude, thank you.

So on the whole our weekend was fantastic. Admittedly we preferred the festival last year, there was something novel, special and new about it then and the views from the festival ground were better and more protected from the cool wind. But it is incredible what the organisers have created over there - a chilled out weekend with lots of quality folk music and quality food too - fresh lobsters and scallops and mackerel for example, yum!!



Back in Guernsey on the Sunday we headed to the Guernsey Festival of Performing Arts to really make the most of a weekend of music. Admittedly the energy was very different to the Sark Folk Festival, with a lot of drunk people, but well done to the organisers for providing us all with the opportunity to attend a weekend music festival here on Guernsey and it is only a shame that not more people supported the event and that some got so drunk that they had little respect for others who didn't want to get trodden on or covered in beer!! Anyhow c'est la vie!!

So all in all a great way to start this next year and lets just pray the sun keeps shining over the next few months so we can enjoy a proper summer here on Guernsey!

xxxxx