Lihou is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of Guernsey in the Parish of St Peter's in the Bailiwick of Guernsey and now owned by the Parliament of Guernsey, officially know as the States of Guernsey. since 2006 it has been managed by the Guernsey Environment department and the Lihou Charitable Trust. It was used by the locals for collation of seaweed used as a retailer but now it is mainly a tourist attraction. In common with several nearby island as Jethou and Brecqhou the name contains the Norman suffix "hou" meaning small hill or mound. The word Ligg or Lydd means in or near water. The island is linked by a 400 m stone causeway and has 66 foot high tide. The island is made up of granite and gneiss bedrock . There are small islets close by called Lissroy and Lihoumel that are breeding grounds for a number of endangered species of bird including the Eurasian oystercatchers and common range plover. During WW2 when the Germans occupied Guernsey Lihou was used for target practice by the German artillery resulting in the farmhouse collapsing. The ruins of the priory are possibly the oldest religious relics in Guernsey. There were some interesting granite rocks on the causeway that glistened but maybe if they had chance to dry they would loose the golden glow. A tractor is often used to transport times to the island at low tide.
In the evening we explored the La Valette bathing pools pools at St Peter Port, unfortunately it started to rain. In its earlier years, the Victorian pools were often visited by many people of great significance, including legendary “Les Miserables” writer Victor Hugo and famous Renaissance painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The water in the pool comes directly from the sea at high tide. The height of the walls allow a certain amount of water to remain in the pool as the tide lowers. The walls also stop an excess of seaweed or sea creatures finding their way into the pools. We decided to do some light painting despite the rain.
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