Sark The stress free Island. (Island of Sark)

Member Name: eskimo

Product:	Island of Sark
Date:	06/07/01 (330 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quiet , No cars, Low population

Disadvantages: Expensive to get there.

I had a day trip to Sark this year; I was led to believe that this island is a quiet backwater in the vast hubbub of life, with the only transport by horse drawn carriages or by bicycle. On arrival at Sark harbour from Jersey using a fast catamaran boat service I found that this was nearly but not quite true. There was a tractor pulled train waiting to transport the passengers up a long steep hill to the main village in Sark, and while there is no motorcars or buses, there seemed to be a lot of tractors. (So much for no cars!).

The Island.

Sark itself is only about 1 ½ miles long and 1 mile wide with a small island (Little Sark) joined on at one end by a causeway, with a population of about 500. The direction signs do not give distances in miles or metres but in minutes, the length of time it should take you to walk to a particular place on the island. There are a number of shops, gift shops and restaurants, and four hotels (one of them on Little Sark) and a post office. On an island of only 500 inhabitants there is also an Internet café, so that anyone can keep up with their e-mails (or even write reviews for Ciao and DooYoo) The governor (? owner) of Sark is the Seigneur who has his own castle called “La Seigneurie”. There is also a prison, and a School for children up to the age of 14, older children may have to go to boarding school either in Guernsey or England.

However don't get ill, there is no NHS on the island, hospital treatment requires transfer to Geurnsay and costs around £350 per day just for the stay only, treatment is extra. all residents (including temporary) require medical insurance. To offset this there is no income tax.

On arrival I went on a pre-booked tour of the island by horse-drawn cart. 9 people on 1 cart pulled by one horse seems to be a bit excessive for the horse to pull, although it did not seem distressed in any way even though it was a hot sunny day. This tour lasted about 90 mi
nutes with a break of 10 minutes at a bay overlooking the lighthouse, and another break of 30 minutes at La Seigneurie so that those who wished could take a tour of the gardens.

After the tour we dined in the Internet Café where a meal of fish and chips and drinks set us back around £7.00. We then walked to Little Sark which took around 50 minutes and crossed by the causeway, a plaque by the side of the Causeway stated that it had been rebuilt (and protective railings put up) by German prisoners of war in 1945-1946.

The Cost.

Trip by catamaran £24.90
Trip by cart £4.90
Pick up (and return) from hotel in Jersey £3.90
Total £33.70 each (£67.40 for two)

So its not a cheap trip, but worth it as a one off special.

Summary: