A bit miffed with Alderney

I arrived about 6pm a few weeks ago on a Saturday and everything was full but I found a rather large buoy BS1 in the eastern Harbour. Harbour Master has gone and I felt it unlikely some large ship was about to arrive. Taxi driver confirmed I was OK to pick it up and it was Big Ship 1. We had a very secure night... though it was a bit Rocky.... but then again the Visitor buoys by the wall can be rocky. +1 for the First and Last. So worth checking the Eastern buoys
 
Sugar Kane said:
Alderney, it's dead simple,

You can't pre book anything, you just have to get there and hope there's a free buoy. If not, Choose a boat similarly sized and raft up to them , taking a line to the buoy as well.

The main thing, is be relaxed, don't expect anything and you wont be disappointed.

The chips at the place just up the road on the corner are worth the channel crossing everytime. And the lady on the taxi boat is lovely.
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Spot on Sugar
xxx
 
colhel said:
Called earlier in the day to be told they'd have room for us, called back again at around 17.45 when we were about 30 mins away, no answer. No answer on VHF either. Entered the harbour and found no bouys free, still no response on phone or radio. As we were unsure on the rafting rules and not wanting to leave the boat anchor, made our way to guernsey arriving at midnight, a bit tired. Reason for my miffedness is, they could have left an answer phone message to say they were full, or better still manned the phone or radio till 20.00 as it says in the Almanac meaning we could have diverted to somewhere else sooner.
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That's a shame. We were there and you could have rafted to us. I didn't see you come in (maybe in the pub).
 
john_morris_uk said:
+ a few. Anchoring is delightful and free. Once ours is dug in, I'll happily leave the boat all day while we go ashore for a walk etc. I think the anchorage in Braye Harbour is nicer than the visitors buoys...
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Anchored in the far corner last time I was there. It was the 75th anniversary of the end of the war and the locals were having a bunker party from 8pm to 8am.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
 
Keith-i said:
By the Victorians for naval protection from the French. Your point?



To be fair they can be a bit slow to answer sometimes and keep fairly 'comfortable' hours. Quality of life is still important and, as mentioned, long may it continue.
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By the Victorian period we were not expecting the French to be a threat-the "Entante Cordiale "was first entered into around this time.

During WW2 the Germans used slave labour, mostly French, to improve and fortify Alderney.

The regime was so harsh that as a percentage, not total numbers, more forced labourers died on Alderney than anywhere else where the Nazi's used forced labour.

Folk lore has it that to avoid digging graves dead workers from the concentration camp were just chucked into the foundations of the breakwater extension.

If only half of the above is true, it shows how awfull it must have been to be in the concentration camp on Alderney during WW2.
 
The Germans we're not involved with the breakwater and did not extend it. It was built around 1850 to protect the naval fleet in CI waters. Conversely, the commercial quay was extended by the Germans but with a steel framed structure.

There are certainly rumours of forced labour and slave workers being added to the foundations but this is primarily related to the anti tank wall at Longis.
 
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rotrax said:
By the Victorian period we were not expecting the French to be a threat-the "Entante Cordiale "was first entered into around this time.

To be fair, and not wanting to take away your very valid point about the suffering during WW2, the Entente Cordiale was in 1904, post-Victorian, and very much driven by Edward VII's Francophile approach.

For most of the Victorian period, France was regarded as a major threat, despite moments of alliance such as the Crimean War. Hence ships such as HMS Warrior (1860) to match the French 'Gloire' ironclad, and the Palmerston follies. The main breakwater was built between 1847 and 1864, partly in response to the enlargement and strengthening of Cherbourg's harbour defences.
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As Keith, Richard and the others are no doubt aware there is a very interesting book about the business called: The Harbour that Failed, here is an overview by the author:

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/The_harbours_that_failed

It mainly concerns St Catherine's but covers the whole grisly business in general.

More than one senior war lord saw the harbours as a handy springboard for an invasion of France and the taking of Cherbourg - by way of getting retaliation in first.
 
In the "old days", there was plenty of room to anchor below Fort Victoria, but the new visitors' moorings over there have made a big hole in the anchorage. It's always worth checking out here as unless you actually motor round you won't always see the vacant buoys placed there.
 
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