Yesterday morning we drove up to Liverpool airport. Liverpool is a good airport. Parking is immediately opposite the terminal, check-in is done by an actual person rather than a recalcitrant machine, and the cafe is table service without having to resort to ordering with your phone. Nice views too.

Our flight south takes about 50 minutes. A taxi takes us to our hotel on the Esplanade in Saint Helier, Jersey’s capital.

We have a very nice room on the third floor, with splendid views of the bay and Elizabeth Castle from our balcony.

As night falls, the castle is illuminated.

There was World Cup football last night with Norway playing Brazil. Despite being very much the underdogs, Norway won the game. We have some Norwegian guests in the hotel, and needless to say they were delighted.

Of course England had a famous victory over Mexico overnight, but to our eternal shame we were too tired to stay up and watch.

This morning we had a nice breakfast and we went for a wander around Saint Helier. There’s a big marina, which is exactly the same as every other marina we’ve moored at back in our sailing days. Some things never change.

There are some nice gardens along the waterfront.

Despite a little sea fog this morning the sun has shone all day, and after grabbing some pastries for lunch we retreated back to the hotel for a couple of hours. We’ll pop out for ice creams later before choosing a restaurant for tonight’s dinner.