The magic of Sark

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is no place on this earth quite as magical as Sark. For me it is absolutely the sacred isle and I’ve been really fortunate to have spent the last three nights there, and over the heat wave too!

I went over with the two boys and my brother, Ross, sister-in-law, Star, and their daughter, Willow, who are visiting from Byronshire in Australia. We stayed in wooden pods at La Valette Campsite out on the East coast, some distance away from my favourite spot of Little Sark, but glorious nonetheless.

Three nights of no WIFI was amazing in itself, let alone the switch off from emails and technology generally. Not to say the boys didn’t watch their iPads, the thought of no WIFI for three nights was enough to send Elijah into a spin, but he survived nonetheless, and iPad watching usually meant a much needed rest from all the activity, well deserved, both boys excelled in their walking and cycling efforts.

The hotter weather didn’t deter us, and we made the most of all Sark has to offer, but of course barely scratched the surface, this is the island that gives, gives, gives. Not having a phone means I don’t take photos, so I’m grateful to Ross for taking his phone and taking photos for us all, this when we remembered that there was such a provision on his phone.

This means there are no photos of our first night or our first day when we visited Port du Moulin for a high tide morning swim. I’ve swum here many times previously but never on such a high tide and we were lucky to have the beach to ourselves allowing for a naturist swim, nothing quite so freeing. The children thoroughly enjoyed rock jumping and I kept going in the sea for as long as I could, before swimming them back in.

The tide was too high to get around to the pyrite caves but the children had fun finding pyrite stones on the beach, Eben has this knack of finding good crystals and we did return home with one - we asked permission, and will take it back one day soon.

That afternoon, I took the boys down to Port a la Jument, the bay along from port du Moulin. It was hot, but well worth the traipse down the cliff and the rock leaping to access the beach at low tide. We had fun the three of us, more swimming and rock jumping and enjoying the views afforded towards Herm. There were three other people on the beach when we arrived but we were soon on our own and this on a busy Sunday in July, another reason i love Sark, is you can get away from people, and while I can be very sociable, I thrive on quite space.

The second day was heatwave day and it was intense, but we kept going in it! We spent the morning out north at L’Epequerie, which again we had to ourselves and what a treat it was. We walked down an ancient path in a valley and along part of the cliff path to get there, catching sight of a seal along the way. The tide was high again and with no one around we were able to swim freely, more rock jumping for the kiddos and neolithic stone noticing for me.

This island is awash with neolithic stones, hardly surprising though when one considers the geology of the island. Sark is made up of a collection of metamorphic and igneous rocks, some of which are so beautiful that its not surprising they attracted the attention of people back in Neolithic times who no doubt found the island as special as I do. There’s some stones around here and a beautiful oak tree up above the bay, which the children like to climb and hang from!

That lunchtime the boys and I traipsed down to the harbour to meet E who was going us for our final night. Here we were lucky to see a huge pod of dolphins in the distance. I was hoping we’d see them later at Dixcart but alas not! It was super, super hot by then and being Monday a couple of the restaurants were closed, which can complicate Monday lunchtime choices, especially as Stocks was fully booked weeks ago - book early if you are intending to lunch there this summer, we missed out.

We ended up at Nova Bistro in the high street, we did attempt to sit outside but it was far to hot so moved inside. The staff were super lovely and everyone was pleased with their meal and the shade! Our favourite place to eat, where we ate every other lunchtime is the Fleur du Jardin, which is family run and very friendly and affordable, at least compared to many places these days. Hathways, which is under new management this year, was recommended to us but we never quite made it there, their menu looks yummy though. Sark does tend to include a good few chips - my boys are showing off theirs in the group photo!

That afternoon we headed down through the valley to Dixcart, enjoying the shade and that magical and ethereal landscape. We sought shade on the beach and managed to get a good swim and a bit of a rock jump in. It’s a busy beach though, which always puts me off, but the forest is just amazing and no trip to Sark is complete without time spent in that valley, it just makes you feel alive.

That evening I traipsed one to Little Sark as dusk was setting. There’s a Goddess stone along the way I like to visit and various other stones that mark the path out to the dolmen. It is another magical spot that I always have to myself, bar a couple of sheep who usually scarper as soon as they see me! The moon wasn’t up until the early hours, so I got to cycle back under the stars. The clear night sky from Sark is incredible and I cannot help cycling with my head mainly up looking for shooting stars.

There were a couple of magical moments that evening, and I felt very held by the land as I was basically blown back to the campsite without having to put too much effort into cycling, managing it on trust, in the dark, I don’t like to use light at night as you can’t see so much. It might well be almost the middle of July but it was really quiet that evening and it wasn’t until I was almost back at the campsite that I passed someone walking. After a shower I stood outside the pod in awe at the stars, the milky way now visible.

Our last day and we all headed over to Little Sark past Grand Greve, which is a beautiful sandy beach but quite a trek up and down the steps! Regardless, I was super impressed with the children (admittedly Eben was on a tag along on the back of my bike and by all accounts didn’t do much peddling!) and their cycling, it’s along way over to Little Sark and all of our legs were feeling it, Sark can be hard on the body, well if you get out and about. It was well worth the effort. We headed out to La Fontaine, which has been on my ‘to do’ list for a while now as I have never managed a high tide swim here, but can tick that now, and I can understand why it is a favourite of my Sark friend.

Again we were on our own and could make the most of this, protected from the rougher seas in the channel and the sound of thunder towards Guernsey, what a treat, the children doing some final rock jumping into the sea, more wetsuits on and off, an art in itself and I have been grateful of the break from that now we are back on Guernsey and I am working the next few days! This bay has a special feel about it and it didn’t surprise me when Ross, our geologist, spotted a quartz seam.

After lunch we headed down to the harbour and hung out in Le Creux searching for more crystals, there is a quartz cave here and the children loved searching for quality bits to take home with them (we asked permission and no doubt will return, like all the other stones we end up bringing home from the beach). The energy in Le Creux is amazing and I love swimming here at high tide, this day it was low and still got us all in, for our final Sark swim.

I’m always a bit miserable when I return from Sark, it’s like a shock turning up in St Peter Port to all the traffic and general busyness, let alone the crazy Guernsey energy, at least in compassion to the higher vibration and sanctity of Sark, largely unspoilt by modern crappiness. However I can’t really complain, the boys and I headed down to Saints for a swim this morning, the moon still up in the sky, and I spent the day quietly and peacefully in my healing space sharing reiki with others.

Furthermore, I’m headed back to Sark again for our autumnal retreats in a few months time, and might even fit in another trip to Sark with the family between then. It’s the kind of place that just calls and I’m pretty rubbish at resisting it…and there is something special about camping out on the land and just getting away from it all, back to basics, and forgetting that the chaos of the rest of the world carries on anon.

For any of you fancying a trip to Sark then amazingly we do still have some spaces left for our soulful Sark weekend Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September. It’s a really amazing opportunity to stay at Stocks at a group rate and enjoy a weekend of yoga and Sark too, it’s the kind of retreat that absolutely transforms you and attracts students time and time again - you can find out more here - https://www.beinspiredby.co.uk/events-calendar/sark-retreat-sept-22