I’d planned a bike ride first thing today but was thwarted by early rain so did a bit of work instead, read the Sunday and Monday papers, drank tea, ate toast and chatted more to John & Rachel. At 12.30 decided to head into town to check out the hill climb and to explore St Peter Port.

With Rachel as our tour guide we followed the lanes to the foot of the Val des Terres and found ourselves in the pit lane of the competitors. Basically, the Val des Terres is a very steep winding road that runs from the port to the top of Fort George – about half a mile. Motorbikes, gokarts and cars of all kinds drive up it as fast as they can. They do this 12 times.

We watched this for a bit and then walked into town and sat outside for lunch at ‘Dix Neuf’. Well actually I had an ‘all day breakfast’. Afterwards we wandered around checking out all the shops – the delights of M&S and Waitrose as well as Rachel’s local recommendations.

Back up the Val des Terres the racing was still going on so we climbed the footpath to the top and took a quick look at the big houses in Fort George. We also found the military cemetery which was interesting.

Back at the house we quickly packed up things for the evening. Off to Cobo Beach to see a Madness tribute band, have fish and chips on the beach and watch the sunset. Not a bad way to end a birthday.