Life in the Slow Lane
Channel Islands Day 2 Jersey West ‘A’, West ‘B’, and South ‘A’ routes 56 Km (Tue 7 August 2018)
Weather: 15⁰C min – 21⁰C max, overcast, showers
“I thought of that while riding my bike” ~ Albert Einstein on the Theory of Relativity
As the most southernly part of the British Isles, Jersey boasts more hours of sunlight than anywhere else in Britain. It was therefore a bit disappointing to wake up to dull, grey, day with a 60% probability of precipitation. Just my luck!
But a few drops of rain never hurt anybody, so at 8:30 am I had finished my full English breakfast and was on my bike headed in a westerly direction along the seaside cycle path. The 56 Km route I planned was a concatenation of the West ‘A’, West ‘B’ and South ‘B’ routes taken from the Standard Jersey Loops.
In contrast to yesterday’s beautiful ride, today was less visually pleasing. No colourful gardens or picturesque villages today, just nondescript houses and few towns of interest. Vegetation consisted mainly of bracken, scrub, blackberry vines, and dock weed, and the sea was a dirty grey-green.
But don’t get me wrong, today was enjoyable in other ways. What the West Coast lacks scenically is more than made up for by the historic significance of this part of Jersey.
A tour of Jersey would not be complete without a visit to the German War Tunnels, which graphically tell the story of the occupation of Jersey from 1940 to 1945. Churchill wanted to defend Jersey, but was overruled by the War Office which decided that Jersey was not strategically important enough to defend. Panic set in when the residents were told that Jersey would be demilitarised. The banks of Jersey ran out of money as the Islanders rushed to withdraw their savings. More than 24,000 residents (about half of the population) elected to leave the Island and Hitler directed that British subjects would be evacuated to Germany. I found the story so compelling that I couldn’t resist taking far too many photos, but if you are interested enough you can click the “War Tunnels” button above to see all the pictures.
Cycling conditions today were again excellent, with smoothly-paved, quiet roads, as well as some good quality, off-road, dedicated cycle paths. Something that particularly appealed to me were the “Green Lanes”, which are 15 mph country roads where cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians have priority. Ah life in the slow lane at last!
For me the highlight of the day was seeing a paddock of thoughtful and contented Jersey cows, which took me back to my childhood in Talgarno where my father’s dairy herd consisted mostly of Jerseys. Now I have seen where Dad’s Jersey cattle originated.
At this stage the clouds above looked like they hadn’t yet made up their mind whether to empty their contents onto me. A little further on and thunder began to roll and the grey clouds took on a charcoal hue. The rain started as gentle droplets but became steadily heavier and persisted for the last 10 Km to Saint Helier.
Soon I was sitting in my favourite coffee shop enjoying a big mug of latte and reflecting on what has been another very pleasant day in Jersey, in spite of the weather. Tomorrow afternoon I catch a Condor Ferry (made in Australia) to Guernsey Island where I have planned three days of riding before heading back to London.
Very interesting! What was the sea dragon doing? Chasing the red tractor? Quite surreal! Finally – the cow pix – awesome! Some of them really engaged with you/the camera. I hope you have a good voyage to Guernsey 🙂
The Jersey cow really wanted to have a chat, possibly to tell me she was related to my Dad’s cows. Or maybe she has never seen an Australian before!