Of Travel and Taste

Sunday morning, after a relaxing day and inspiring evening meal yesterday we were ready for a little more action and decided to go for a coastal walk in the north west of Jersey. According to the Jersey tourist office it was easy to get there and would provide us with beautiful views of the island and its rugged  coastline. They were definitely right about the transport. One of the nice things about Jersey is that there is a good network of busses which get you cheap and easy to almost any part of the island from St. Helier. Getting back to St. Helier is a bit more of a challenge, because as mentioned earlier, the islanders value their Sunday rest and send the busses back to the garage long before sundown. Luckily we set off at 10 in the morning, so we had plenty of time to exhaust ourselves before the last bus back. Along the way we were treated to impressive views of castle ruins, funny place names (is Grosnez French for Big Nose?), secluded beaches, and plenty of wild ...

After a long and well-deserved lie-in we made our way to the breakfast restaurant around 10. The buffet offered the usual elements for a DIY "full english", a small selection of bread, jams and mediocre mini pastries. The eggs however were superb, cooked to order anyway you could possible wish for. During our stay I had the poached and scrambled varieties and a delicious mushroom and cheese omelette. After breakfast we decided to explore St. Helier and came soon to the conclusion that the town much resembled the breakfast buffet. Unexciting, but with a few gems thrown in to avoid real disappointment. The highlight of our expedition was a trip by amphibious vehicle to Elisabeth Castle, just off the coast. By low tide it is even possible to walk there! The first inhabitant of the rocks where now the castle is build was a Belgian hermit in the 6th century, who apparently preferred a rather desolate barren cliff over his homeland, which makes me question his s...

Bank holiday weekends always present me with an agonising dilemma. "Should I stay or should I go" is the existential question which raises its ugly head every time. On the one hand the extended weekend offers an excellent opportunity to go a little further afield without the need to use up precious annual leave, but on the other hand bank holiday road closures and rail diversions make bank holidays an ideal time to spend some quality time between my own four walls. And then there is Jersey..... The ideal destination for an August Bank Holiday as travel to Jersey could be arranged without rail or road travel. A short flight from London City Airport after work on Friday evening would get me there. My mind was made up, Jersey it would be this August. I had never been there, I had heard rumours describing it as a subtropical paradise, covered in lush vegetation and full of photo opportunities for the keen amateur photographer, and fresh seafood to be had on every street corn...