Alderney Adventure

Imagine a place just one and a half miles wide and three and a half miles long and where would you think of? I don’t think for a minute the joy that is the tiny Channel Island of Alderney would spring to mind. 

This ‘rock’ quietly set in the English Channel, a minuscule dot on a world atlas and a small and insignificant mark on a map of the British Isles might not be a destination on many people’s radar. 

I headed to this tiny island in early August 2023, excited for a summer break. I had 6 days to explore this Island, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It’s 3 square miles make it the third largest Island in the Channel Islands and the second largest in the Bailiwick. 

Alderney may be a small island but it’s diverse landscape and big sky creates a feeling of space, variety and richness. I was visiting my sister who has lived there for the last 5 years and it was very special to go and experience ‘her Alderney’. 

My Alderney experience started when I boarded the tiny 19-seater plane from Guernsey to travel the 13 miles across the sea to my destination, a 15 minute flight with the pilots in full view of passengers, it was definitely different to any plane journey I had been on before. 

As the plane lands in Alderney passengers are greeted by waves and cheers from Islanders waiting to meet their visitors, it really sets the tone for what is such a friendly, warm and welcoming island. 

I arrived in the middle of ‘Alderney Week’, the Channel Islands’ biggest annual carnival and apart from a quick look at the festival programme, I did not really know what to expect. The subsequent days that followed were packed with live music, mad fun, quirkiness and eccentricity, all acuminating in a fabulous torchlight procession, bonfire and fireworks to mark the end of the amazing week. 

Amongst all the busyness I spent time walking the stunning coastal paths of the island, taking in the diverse, beautiful scenery with its white sweeping sandy beaches, steep cliffs rising up from the sea, farmland and the historic forts that dot the landscape.

There was also time on a sunny afternoon to take a path down off the cliffs to one of the seven beaches and soak up the sun in a quiet, peaceful spot. It was a perfect combination of party time and quiet time and lots of quality time with my sister. 

My last evening in Alderney was dull and rainy but my sister and I, undeterred, decided to get fish and chips and drive up to the harbour of Fort Clonque in the vain hope of a sunset.

We parked up with the fish and chips, a glass of prosecco and a view of the sea. The sky was still grey and the air damp but unexpectedly there was a break in the cloud and it wasn’t long before we got what we had come for – a beautiful sunset across the sea. 

We stood in the calm of the evening quietly taking in the beauty of it all but that wasn’t the only gift nature gave us on that last night of my break.

As I turned around to take a selfie I was greeted by a stunning rainbow, stretching across the harbour, vivid colours against the darkening sky, it was a magical, unforgettable moment. 

Looking back on my last evening, the sunset and the beautiful rainbow after the rain, was a real message to embrace the unexpected, be in awe of life’s gifts and be open to opportunities for joy. It was a beautiful finale to a wonderful break and the prelude a new amazing life adventure.