18 June, Wednesday. 27km, 24C (33C max)
We both
slept reasonably well and awoke to alarm 4:45am, speaker announcement to please
finish breakfast by 5:30am and vacate rooms. The ferry had already been docked
and freight trucks unloaded prior to this all happening. Escorted off, after
all vehicles, our bikes seem to have survived OK.
So, what to
do in Guernsey at 6:15am! It is going to be a beautiful day! Although we can
leave our luggage at our hotel, we are unable to do so until 8’ish. We
biked/walked out on castle pier to Castle Cornet which is close to the ferry
terminal. The tide is a long way out, there is a fisherman plus some people walking/running
and swimming.
Continued
around the coast passing La Valette bathing pools, free saltwater pool, which
is very popular at 7am. Walked up and around the Clarence Battery, originally
built 1779, overlooking the pools.
Back along
the busy (morning rush hour) north esplanade to find our accommodation, which
was bustling with some e-bikers that had precarious luggage just leaving
(possibly to catch the outbound ferry). Hotel staff told us where to store
luggage and then we sat in the courtyard with a coffee to plan our day.
First a
second breakfast following our ferry one earlier, close to the hotel, then
headed north on quite a busy road, zooming as we have no luggage on bikes!
Following the coast mostly, past St Sansons which is quite industrial. Rode past
Vale Castle, did a detour to Le De’hus which is a Neolithic period burial mound
from 3500-2000 BC. A passage grave about 10m in length but we couldn’t spot the
face of a bearded man which is supposedly a tomb cap stone… needs a bit of
imagination! The Les Foullges long mound was discovered in 1977 after the gorse
had died off in a particularly dry summer. The 1st structures of the
burial monument were believed to be built 6500 years ago (4500BC) and are
classed as one of the earliest monuments known in Europe.
From there
as we followed mostly road but some coastal tracks, it was beach, beach, beach
of various materials… sand, pebble, large round stones, boulders. Also, lots of
forts, originally built in the early 1800’s in response to the threat of French
invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. The forts became obsolete in the early
1900’s and were disarmed, But during the German occupation of 1940-45 they were
then expanded, reinforced, armed and used for observation and anti-aircraft
guns.
Fort Doyle,
Fort Le Marchant, Grandes Rocques Fort to Cobo Bay. Also, lots of towers, 15
that were built around 1778-79 and dotted all around the island. Used as guard
houses, barrack and support for the nearby cannon batteries.
Amazingly
you are able to stand all over these things, the towers were locked and it
looked like a couple may have been converted into houses.
We
zig-zagged through the middle of the island whilst attempting to avoid the
busier roads before dropping back into town of St Peter Port and our hotel. Many
glasshouses in various states of repair, apparently used to be called wineries
and grew grapes. We could see some had grapes, oranges, mandarins and some
tomatoes… but many abandoned.
Self-check-in
and a lovely room overlooking the street and seafront. We are starting to feel
weary after such an early start and “ferry sleep”. Dinner at a pub nearer town
and then a walk up the hill and around the back of town. Elizabeth College is a
big old building, a church, a cemetery and a tower. Lots of solid rock/brick
buildings. The town is more structured and populated than we expected, some business
buildings are quite smart. We discover it is independently governed at arm’s
length from the UK and there is business/tax advantages from being based here. From
our brief and critical observation, the population appears much fitter in
general compared to the UK also.
19 June,
Thursday. 41km, 25C, (37C max)
Breakfast
in the hotel courtyard, a lovely basket of breakfast delivered to your room
door daily. Cereal, yoghurt, fruit and croissants.
By 9am we biked
away to explore the south/southwest of the island. A decent hill-climb to get
us started and then on smaller roads above the coast, on coastal cliffs. Through
a marked bridal way with housing all the way. Some big houses behind fences that are in
prime position on the cliff and overlooking the sea.
Stopped at Doyle
monument which gives a nice view of the beach and back toward Castle Cornet at
St Peter Port. Onto the small settlement of Jerbourg where we stopped and
looked down on St Martins Point Lighthouse. We parked up the bikes and walked
to the German La Moye Battery and viewing posts and a bit further to glimpse
Moulin Huet Bay… which saves us biking down into it, and more importantly back
up!
Zig-zagging
via residential streets as we made our way toward Portelet Bay. Dropped down a
steep hill to Le Petit Bot tower and bay, a small stony bay but still a few
people sunbathing. The kiosk was open so we fortified ourselves with a muffin
each to get us back up the hill.
Made our
way towards the town/area of Torteval, Portelet Harbour which was busy with
people; sitting, sunbathing and a few swimming. This is the start of huge
sweeping bays, Rocquaine and L’Eree, that have a huge stone fence as a seawall
most of the way around. The wall was constructed in the 1940’s by the German
occupiers so the beach could not be landed on and attacked by tanks. The Germans
had also modified a 1700’s tower by building another tower on top as an
observation/communications post.
2pm lunch
at a café in Vazon Bay, there are a few resort type establishments here and
lots of sandy beaches. Then heading across country, including a bit of climb to
get over the hump of the island! Found the “Little Chapel” with the current one
being the 3rd attempt built in th e1930’s. Mosaicked throughout and
externally it must have been quite time consuming an exercise to construct… but
the result very cute. Back to St Peter Port getting to the hotel around 4pm.
Today’s scenery,
apart from the coastline, was mostly housing. A few scattered fields of hay
cut, we saw 1 larger herd of cows on grass beside a housing shed, a couple of
small herds but otherwise no stock. The ones we saw must be responsible for the
100% Guernsey Ice-Cream so widely advertised!! A few horses, some maize crops and
some glasshouses, although not as many as we saw yesterday.
People
appear generally more friendly here, getting a hello or even a conversation.
Although, one grumped at us for biking down a one-way road… but there was
others also biking it, he must have just been having a bad day. He can join the
numbers with the couple of people who grumped at us on Isle of Wight when we
were riding on ‘shared’ footpath!
Appears to
be high tide today around midday, the rocks opposite our hotel are exposed by
late afternoon.
We have
done very well covering the ground in Guernsey, apparently the weather isn’t
always this nice… it is stunning for our stay!!
Dinner at
an Italian, same place we had breakfast yesterday, very busy, very delicious.
20 June,
Friday. 12km
A rushed
breakfast and biked down to ferry terminal for 8am departure to Isle of Sark,
arriving just after 9am. Left our bikes locked up at the Guernsey terminal.
Walked up
the hill from the harbour and time for a cream scone and coffee, the cream tasted
more like butter but it filled a gap!
We decided
to rent bikes to get us around. Only bikes or horse drawn carts, or tractors,
are allowed on Sark so bike rental is a big business. It proved to be an
excellent idea.
Sark Island
is 5.5km long, 2.5km wide with a population of around 500 and no cars or
motorbikes.
We headed
north to the end of the road, L’Eperquerie Common. We then walked to the
Montlet ½ tower and Buddhist Rock carving, then back on a different walking
track overlooking Le Fontaines Bay… all stunning. A few goats sitting on rocks,
a couple of old cannons pointing out to sea. Cycled back part way then walk to
Port-du-Moulin Bay and “Window in the Rock”, again stunning!
As we biked
back to the township, we stopped at a café which is set up in the Island Hall.
From there cycled to the southern end of the road and over the La Coupee connection
between Sark and Little Sark. This is a built up crossing on top of a natural
land bridge, constructed by Prisoners of War in 1945.
We walked
down to 2 rock towers, possibly something to do with historic silver mining, at
the end of Little Sark. Walk overlooking Port Gorey Landing and also the Adonis
Pool. Returned by biking back over La Coupee and onto Sark then to the Pilcher
Monument, back via the “main town” (huge as it is!!) to go and look at Sark Henge.
Sark Henge is a circle of stones built in 2015, a folly perhaps!
Hay baling either
cut or being baled, saw a few cows and a few sheep. There is an annual sheep
race so there must be more somewhere on the island.
A chap
en-route stopped to see if we needed directions and got chatting. He has been
living on Sark for 35 years, originally an Australian. Thinks it is the perfect
place to live, no crime, not much noise and a ferry ride away from civilisation
and an airport that will get you anywhere in the UK or Europe. Apparently, you
are not classed as a local until you have survived 2 winters on the island.
Brecqhou
Island lies just off the coast of Sark but is privately owned by the Barclay
Brothers since 1993. Before one brother died, they had built a GBP60 million
mansion in 1994 that you can see from Sark. Although it is still under the
jurisdiction of Sark, they completely ignore the rules and have cars (flash
one, even though there is very little length of road) and a helicopter landing
pad. All this doesn’t sit well with the locals by all reports.
Returned
our hire bikes, sat and had a drink then walked down for our 6pm ferry, back to
the hotel by 7:30pm. Showers then dinner… headed for a pub that had good
reviews but unfortunately, they didn’t do meals on a Friday. Publican directed
us to a hotel back near our own accommodation… but it looked very flash, and the
waiter when we arrived obviously thought we didn’t either as they didn’t pay us
much attention! So, we walked out of there and along to a brewery that has
great reviews. However, they don’t do food but let you bring takeaways… so
quick trip to Chinese take-away next door and Viola! nice food and a nice beer.
A perfect way to finish our days in Guernsey!!
We have
been so lucky with the weather, it seems like a very attractive place to llve.
21 June,
Saturday. 15km, 28C (30C max)
After
breakfast we biked to the ferry terminal by 9:15am, got our boarding tickets
and were instructed to tag and leave our bikes at the bike parking area outside
the door. We did so uneasily, not locked, reliant on staff shifting them in an
open public area. As we sat in the departure lounge we decided we should at
least take our panniers with us, so we asked and were escorted out to retrieve
them… quite high security! So, feeling slightly more comfortable albeit a bit
nervous as to if our bikes make it or not.
The ferry
is a catamaran, reasonably full, maybe with a few day trippers and takes 1hr
10minutes to cross to Jersey. Disembarked at St Helier then waited on the pier
while our bikes were manhandled up from the depths of the boat, yay, they made
it! Wheeled them along corridors to the terminal building.
Our first
aim was to go to a bike shop to refresh our oil supplies for chains, 3 were
closed including one chap who was just locking up and really didn’t want to
re-open just for the sale of a small oil bottle, fair enough! He did however
advise us we should go to the zoo on Jersey, but don’t think we have that on
our “to-do list”.
We had
lunch at a park kiosk; it is very hot so shade essential. There was a large LGBT
parade as we were leaving which had a large police presence. Found a cycle shop
that was open, restocked, then weaved our way through tricky one-way streets to
the harbour area. Then found the cycle path which led us along a marine parade
at Georgetown before leading us onto roads and country lanes. Some potatoes, maize,
tunnel houses with tomatoes and field with a few Jersey cows!
Arrived in
Gorey quite hot and bothered. A lovely sand beach stretching for miles and very
popular today with the heat. We then had to climb quite a brutal hill to reach
our hostel accommodation for the next 2 nights. It is a huge complex,
historically a boys school in the early 1900’s, located on what were hunting grounds
for Mont Orgueil (Castle). We have a room with a view of the castle which is
lovely. We appear to be sharing the hostel with a brownies/girl guides group.
We have to sit in the common room to get WIFI, but otherwise it is perfect for
our needs.
Walked down
to the township via Anne Port, a beach, and then up to the castle. Built 1200-1600
was once the most important building on Jersey. With Jersey being recaptured by
the English from the French in 1468 the castle was a significant defensive
fortress. This side of Jersey faces directly across to France which you can
clearly see, its not far away.
Also just
over the field from the hostel is La Pouquelaye de Faldouet, a neolithic (6000
years ago) passage grave built to align with the rising sun of spring and
autumn equinox. Excavations showed the tomb held 3 adults and 2 children
without skulls, plus 2 stone axes and 2 stone pendants. The tomb is covered
with a 24 tonne capstone… who/how did that get moved???
Down in the
town a walk along the pier revealed expensive dining so we opted for fish and chips
on the beach, perfect!
A steep
walk back up to the hostel. No WIFI tonight, the brownies have commandeered the
common room for a disco!
Jersey
appears to have very up and down roads, our 15km seemed a lot longer in the
heat. Lots of people biking and the bikers seem friendlier too, a smile/nod
acknowledging our existence! There is lots of French road names and some huge
and modern homes.
Table
tennis and pool in the games room before bed, the pool was terrible and not
sure if we can even blame a sloping pool table.
22 June,
Sunday. 47km, 21C (28C max)
We awoke
really early, a bit of WIFI catchup in the common room then Continental buffet supplied
breakfast at 8am as part of our tariff. Decided our gear in room needs to go up
on top bunk as we discovered ants are in our room and exploring!
9am and
headed north on cycle route 1. First stop St Catherines area and walked out on
the St Catherines breakwater. Overlooking Belval Cove and Fliquet Bay it is a
very popular spot on a Sunday morning with a busy café, rock climbers, swimmers
accompanied by kayakers, yachts that have probably been moored overnight and
bunches of road cyclists.
Then a climb
up a hill to get out of that bay, purposely omitted the next bay as we had viewed
it from the breakwater anyway. We then missed the turnoff for the next cliff
area and before we knew it were coming up to Jersey Zoo. Lots of people going
in, but we didn’t apart from a snack break at one of their outdoor tables.
Back on
track we coasted down to Bouley Bay and Mad Mary’s café. There was a dive/snorkelling
instruction business, plus the café and a quite big old hotel that was closed
down and a little tired looking. Mad Mary’s cake was good though! Then it was
back up the hill, back onto cycle route 1 and along to the Devils Hole which
had a viewpoint over Gifford and Bonne Nuit Bays.
The devils
hole would possibly be a blow hole in a very high tide, it highlights the craggy
coastline which is National Trust Land. They are letting it regenerate and have
re-introduced Manx Loaghton Sheep, a double horned sheep. That section of
coastline is the only Puffin colony so they are hoping the numbers increase.
Back up the
hill and lunch at the Priory Inn which was conveniently just there. Returning
back towards our hostel we retraced some of our steps to find a coastal view we
had missed then headed inland on routes 3 and 4. Rather up and down!!
Stopped at
a pub at St Martins Village with the idea we could have a drink to fill in time
until dinner but discovered they stop food at 6pm… so we ordered straight away!
Sunday roast, not the best ever but pretty good and our last UK Sunday roast
meal for a while!
From there
a simple, mostly downhill, ride of 4km back to the hostel by 6:15pm.
All over
the island there are houses everywhere, although it doesn’t seem built up. A lot
of very solid brown rock homes, very substantial, some left to the imagination
with high roadside fences/walls, closed gates and tree lined driveways so you
can’t see what lies beyond. Stopped at an historic pigeon house used for what
it literally sounds, housing/trapping pigeons as a food source.
Passing through
land with lots of potato crops, some cereal crop, hay/baleage being done, some
fruit trees and some Jersey cows (photogenic of course). A green and inviting
landscape, people are definitely friendlier than mainland UK or Isle of Wight.
A couple of different offers of help when we had our map out which was nice, other
cyclists acknowledging us. A pleasant way to fill in our day.
Populations:
Jersey; 104000. Guernsey; 65000. Isle of Wight; 141000
23 June,
Monday. 38km, 18C (27C max)
9:30am
departure just as a school group arrived to check in, good timing! It was a
slightly spooky place as you didn’t see people except at breakfast where people
would just appear. Saw no one else using the common areas when we were.
After yesterdays
experience of very undulating riding through the middle of the island, we
choose to follow route 1 again as we know if you don’t deviate to bays the
climbing isn’t bad.
Arrived at
our campground in St Ouen by 11:30am although check-in not until 1pm hoping we
can drop our panniers. Host kindly checks us in and lets us put up tent, so we
leave all our gear in tent which is set up on our sheltered site in the orchard
area, nice. The campground is almost fill of campervans.
Free of our
shackles (panniers) we bike into St Ouen’s village to grab a supermarket
sandwich which we ate in the neighbouring park.
Returned to
following route 1, heading south down the west coast of Jersey. Hit the coast
road at Kempt Tower and just up the road was the Channel Islands Military museum.
The museum is mostly German military items as well as some Jersey memorabilia from
the WW2 period and is all housed in a German bunker. The coast line is lined with
bunkers and sea defense walls.
A few interesting
stories from the English Islanders. Amazing to think it all happened really,
apart from the towers around the island that date from the 1700’s (some since
modified), the bunkers and lookout towers… who would know?
After an
hour there we head north, it is stunning sandy beach but there is a strong wind
from the north making it quite cold in full exposure but hot in sheltered
spots.
Wound our
way north then east, just stunning scenery. Stopped at the ruins of Grosnez
Castle on the coast and located just beside Jersey’s Les Landes horse
racecourse, a windswept and not completely smooth looking circuit.
Stopped
after that at Plemont Point which has more defense ruins plus a couple of giant
Puffin sculptures, on the coastal path.
Back to campground
but via St Ouen supermarket to see if they have any towels, we only have our
tiny microfiber ones. They don’t, so it is showers with an economical drying operation!
We walked a
couple of kms to Greve de Lecq Bay and the Moulin de Lecq Inn as our campground
restaurant is not open this evening. The Inn is an old mill building with some
of the mill wheels in the bar which is cool. Nice dinner too.
A lovely
night for camping, a bit chilly but it should be fine.
24 June,
Tuesday. 28km, 23C (44C max)
Woke up a
bit sore this morning, but after a bit of movement, stiffness disappeared. Up
by 7am and we sat in the sun with our cup of hot water from the tap, the camp
has no kitchen facilities apart from a sink as guess they expect campers to
have their own.
8:15am away
from campground to firstly retrace our steps from yesterday back down to the
western beaches. Although it had been sunny and calm it clouded over and was
chilly by the time we left.
We are first
customers of the day, at 8:55am, at café at the Le Braye slipway opposite the Le
Rocco defense tower which is in the sea. A nice outdoor seating area and a very
nice breaky. Had a walk around the neighbouring sand dune area, a few people
out walking their dogs here.
Still
following the coast, we get to Petit Point using the coastal footpath saving a couple
of km uphill riding. Then around towards Corbiere Point where we walked the
causeway out to the lighthouse, built 1874. Stunning views, and also some large
stunning houses… pricey real estate we imagine!
Continued
along the coast with a steep descent to get to St Brelade’s Bay, another huge
expanse of sand. The tide is away out, and there is a lovely church on the hill
overlooking the bay. Parish church of St Brelade and Chapelle de St Marle
(Fisherman’s Chapel) beside it. There is School groups on the beach.
Then up a
quite steep hill to Noirmont Point which was the major German command post for
the island’s defenses. There are lots of concrete structures and bunkers here.
Down the
steep hill to St Aubin’s harbour where we lunch at a nice café. From there
follow cycle route 1 and the coast on the glorious shared bike/walkway all the
way around to Greve D’Azzette, passing St Heliers on the way, to our BnB which
is 2 blocks from the sea. We are on the top floor, 3 flights up, it is hot up
there and a bit of a climb with our panniers. Bikes locked to the fence railing
in front garden.
We walked
into the main part of St Heliers via Fort Regent, our dinner the last pie and mash
in the UK for a while, and then back to our BnB shortcutting the hill that separates
this side of the city from the main part.
A little
bit of hand-washing done, hopefully it dries in our hot room.
Jersey has
some big flash houses and exudes an reputation of wealth although it doesn’t necessarily
seem “in your face”. We checked out a real estate window and some of the big houses
are listed at GBP15-17 million, that’s a lot of NZ$$ !!!
Biggest
drama of day was Caro losing her NZ bread bag for covering the leather bike
seat at night, oh no!! Easy fix with supermarket buy of some suitable bags.
25 June,
Wednesday. 12km, 25C (31C max)
As we don’t
travel until this afternoon we left our bags at reception after breakfast and went
for a ride.
First up
some shopping so found a couple of light towels at a sports shop, will be ideal
for camping/swimming (if any) adventures… from a Sports Direct shop, gym towels
so still pretty small but it is weight vs bulk vs usage, the last of which is
still unknown. Also purchased some soap, and some talc powder to help our shoe
odours!
Biked back
to the St Helier waterfront and then north along a busy beach road, there were only
bits where you could actually see beach due to housing on both sides of the
road. The road was reasonably busy and there is no bike lane so it was a bit
painful for the drivers.
We rode as
far as Green Island; the tide is a long way out. A ham and cheese sandwich from
the kiosk, which is attached to the Green Island restaurant that has a Michelin
rating! High expectations then, it was a good sandwich but possibly not
Michelin level! The restaurant was getting increasingly busy during the short
time we are there.
A walk out
to Green Island itself as able to do so at low tide, then doubled back to our
BnB to collect our panniers etc. Then to the ferry terminal, it is hot, for a
1.5hour wait. Lots of bikes waiting (9), half going to Guernsey and the others
to St Malo (the ferry takes us back to Guernsey briefly then onward). An
orderly loading onto the large catamaran ferry.
At the Guernsey
stopover only about 20 passengers stayed on including ourselves, but a huge amount
of people got on. Departs and shortly thereafter we go past Jersey, seeing quite
close the coast we biked yesterday, feels like we are bouncing back and forward!!
View out over the ocean shows some large wind farm turbines in the sea, plus a
very black sky and lightening flashes. So, it is farewell to the UK… and bonjour
to France…
There is
huge tidal differences in the area. For example, we walked down to the beach
from this mornings BnB, there is a saltwater lido pool composed of a ring of
concrete in the sea. You couldn’t even make out the pool then, but before 11am
the pool sat high and dry and there are mechanical diggers working on the beach
further out! At 2pm when we passed it again the ring is clearly visible and people
swimming within it whilst a uni-cyclist bikes around the edge!
We have a sandwich
on board the ferry as due to timezone change (although geographically we aren’t
changing distance much at all) we lose an hour, so it will be 9:30pm by the time
we get to our hotel.
Disembarking
there are 20+ bikes, all led off in an orderly manner to the end of the ramp…
then chaos broke lose as bikers go a bit bolshie! The vehicles are coming off
as well and forming 2-3 lines for passport control, but the bikes all just leapfrog
the line and in front of the cars to immigration, so we just did the same! No
questions asked, no search, just a passport stamp and we are waved through.
Repeating
after ourselves “keep right, keep right” we head off, feeling a bit like we are
going backwards around the roundabout but guess we will adapt quickly… a matter
of having to!
Rode through
one of the city wall gates and into St Malo, it is a stunning place! We visited
here for a day in 2019, so it is semi-familiar. Within 15 minutes of leaving
the ferry we found our hotel and the helpful staff showed us the locked garage
to store our bikes. Then with our panniers we squeeze into a tiny lift to go up
to our 5th floor room. Lovely.
As it is
still light, summer evenings, we went for a walk. Our hotel is very central, so
we climbed steps up to the cathedral whose bells were ringing out for 10pm,
then onto the city wall to see the glow of the sunset, beautiful. Then back to
the room, shower and some much-needed sleep.
Funny experience
for the day… the ferry company will not serve beef due to it’s high carbon
footprint… and it is a huge diesel ferry!!! Ask yourself!!
