Mini Tour of the Channel Islands

Channel Islands (Jersey) Sightseeing in Saint Helier (Sun 5 August 2018)

Weather: 18⁰C min – 28⁰C max, clear and sunny

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“I travel, I read, I write, I have other lives. But when I have a camera, I know that’s my country, my island” ~ Leos Carax

When bike touring you should always expect the unexpected. Planning my one week tour of Jersey and Guernsey (the largest two of eight islands comprising the “Channel Islands”) was a cinch .. catch a train from London to the southern port of Poole, take a Condor Ferry to Saint Helier, ride around a few of the Standard Jersey Loops, then catch a Condor Ferry to Saint Peter Port and ride around some of the Standard Guernsey Loops. What could possibly go wrong?

Saturday morning arrived at last. A feeling of excitement came came over me when I was greeted by perfect sunshine and a forecast in the high twenties. Then I tuned into the news and thought I heard something about last minute talks failing to avert a strike by Greater Western Railways. Hang on, it is a GWR train I am supposed to be catching from London Waterloo to Poole at 12:15 pm today! Google confirmed that I had heard correctly. Frantically I began searching for an alternative route, but to no avail. How am I going to catch the 9:15 am ferry tomorrow? I decided to hop on my bike and head straight into Waterloo to see what was going on. When I arrived there I took heart from seeing some GWR trains listed on the departures board, even though Poole did not get a mention. The lengthy wait in the queue was worth it when I finally got to the ticket counter and received the good news that there was a train to Bournemouth at 11:05 am, from where I could catch another train to Poole. What a relief … trip on again!

So here I am in Saint Helier, ready for my first ride in Jersey tomorrow morning. First impressions of the town are most favourable … a delightful little town (population about 30,000) with an attractive harbour, quayside shops, good street food, buzzy cafés … and the best latte I have had since leaving Sydney three months ago.

Saint Helier, the capital of Jersey Island, is big in things to see and do, small enough to explore easily. Being Sunday everything is closed today but the good news is that this will be my base for the three days I am spending on Jersey, so I will have plenty of time to check out the various attractions, including the 19th century Victorian fruit and vegetable market.

I did manage to see a couple of Jersey cows today … bronze ones in the village square! Hopefully I will get to see plenty of the real ones in the next couple of days. At last I get to see where my father’s Jersey cows originated.

My mini tour of the Channel Islands has begun!