Jersey, Channel Islands - June 8 through June 11, 2008

Mont Orgeuil & Gorey

Inspired by the BBC show "Coast" Annie and I decided to take a short break, following my CFA Level III exam, in the Channel Islands on Jersey. Jersey turned out to be even better than we expected and provided us with 3 very enjoyable, relaxing days. We are already planning our next trip back!

3+

1. Jersey is very easy to get to from London. We took a quick flight (~30 minutes) from Luton on EasyJet and landed almost as soon as we had taken off.


2. Walking along the North Coast cliffpath from Bonne Nuit Bay to Rozel was the highlight of our trip. The walk provides some beautiful scenery and is difficult enough to provide a sense of accomplishment without killing you in the process! The path is well marked (except for at the very end in Rozel), well maintained and not too crowded, we saw maybe 10 or 15 people on the path during walk. The path runs along almost the entire North Coast and when we go back we plan on doing the other half.


The cliffpath along Bonne Nuit Bay

3. Elizabeth Castle in St. Helier and Mont Orgueil in Gorey are two of the best castles we've visited in Europe. The location of Elizabeth Castle 3/4 of a mile off shore in St. Aubin's Bay is its best feature. You can walk out to the castle at low tide or take the Norman's sponsored bus at high tide. The castle is a blend of old and new with a mixture of fortifications built in the 1600s all the way up to the modifcations installed by the Nazis during the German occupation. The castle also provides great views of both St. Helier and the bay. On the east coast of Jersey, Mont Orgueil is high above the town of Gorey. It contains several interesting exhibits (we learned all about how to use a halberd!) along with well maintained gardens. Great views can be had from the castle as well, it was so clear the day we were there we could see France! Mont Orgueil is definitely worthy of its spot on seemingly 90% of all the postcards in Jersey.

Norman's coming back from Elizabeth Castle

3-

1. The traffic in St. Helier was terrible! There seemed to be traffic at all times of the day. While we did not rent a car, we took the bus everywhere and it was always nice to be out of St. Helier where the bus could move faster than 2 mph!
   
2. While the bus service is very useful for getting around the island, it takes a good bit of planning as the hours are limited on some bus routes and service can be infrequent.
   
3. For such a beautiful place, Jersey has a serious lack of good postcards. We always send ourselves, and our families, postcards wherever we go, but the selection in Jersey was terrible. There was no variety and most seemed to be from the 1970s. All the ones we ended up sending were of of either Mont Orgueil, Gorey or both!

Overall Grade: A