A Walk on the Wild Side

Here’s the view that greeted us as we began our walk yesterday on the northern side of Jersey.

On the horizon of this photo you can see three of the other Channel Islands - Sark is most obvious, then the little bump to the left is Herm, and further left the vague outline of Guernsey. We could actually see Alderney further to the right but it was too distant to show up in a photo. And further around again, we could see the coast of Normandy stretching on for miles.

We caught a bus from Jersey’s capital, St Helier, to Devil’s Hole - a collapsed sea cave on the north coast.

This is the wilder and more windswept  side of the island, less populated, and steeper, ringed by a cliff walk. Much of this area has been declared a National Trust.Reserve. Fortified with a packet each of curried egg sandwiches together with lashings of shortbread generously supplied by Neil’s Mum Annie, we set off on an expedition to explore it!

This was the closest creature to a heffalump we encountered.

The birdlife is abundant. As well as herrings and gulls, choughs have been reintroduced 100 years since they were last seen on the island. We saw small hawks hovering over the gorse and bracken, and we startled a large eagle which rose up from shrubbery as we passed close by.

This is the little fishing village of Bonne Nuit, with boats increasingly stranded as the tide recedes. At the other end of this bay, we came across a little nursing home tucked into the hill and overlooking the sea - it was the most beautiful and peaceful setting for a nursing home we’ve ever seen!

Occasionally the path dipped inland a little, on this occasion passing by this ancient standing stone.

Jersey has a ‘Tardis-like’ feel to it. In area it’s tiny (9 by 5 miles), but from the inside it feels much bigger. There are so many distinctive small landscapes, from the coast to wooded valleys and numerous villages, farms, country estates, reservoirs and lane ways. 

Just to the right of where Sarah is walking is a farm growing Jersey’s ‘finest tea’. And a bit further on, fields with recently harvested and much sought after Jersey Royal potatoes.

We dipped back out again.

Eventually, on reaching Bouley Bay, we followed the road out to the village of Trinity. We’d hope to fit in a quiet ale at the Trinity Arms, but alas the bus came and we wound our way back through a maze of lanes, hedgerows, fields and villages - past the Jersey Zoo which Neil’s grandfather Roderick helped set up with Gerald Durrell. All in all there are twelve ‘parishes’ in Jersey, each with their own beautiful stone parish church, pub and village green. 

We’re in St Clement and then there’s St Helier, St Brelard, St Ouen, St Lawrence, St Saviour, St Peter, St John, St Martin, St Mary, Trinity and Grouville. 

We have one more day here before we pack into Gerald and Anne’s car, and catch the ferry back to Brittany. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and we look forward to our final opportunity to mooch around here and enjoy the view from the house. We might even sample a ploughman’s lunch at Anne and Gerald’s local, The Seymour Inn!

Buen Camino,

Neil and Sarah