St Helier; Friday, 01 August, 2003

First full day and after breakfast the first stop was La Houge Bie. This is the largest Neolithic passage grave in the Channel Islands and one of the largest in Western Europe. The grave itself is about 40 Yards long and you have to duck down to walk along the entrance corridor to reach the main tomb. Above the massive mound built to cover the grave is a 12th Century church which was erected in an attempt to turn a pagan site into a Christian site. The site also boasts an interesting Geological and Archaeological museum detailing the history and geology of the islands (which are only about 8,000 years old!) and the site itself. The site also has the scars of the islands occupation during the Second World War with trenched all around the site that the Germans had built. Some of them have been reopened and carry an exhibition on the building of the German fortifications on the islands. They also have a room of Photographs and a guide which tells you what happened to the people featured, needless to say virtually none of them made it to 1945.

A quick trip back into St Hellier and then back out again (one of the major problems with the buses on the island is that you almost never go from one part of the island to the other without changing in St Hellier) to the North East part of the island to Groznes. The castle at Groznes is in ruins, in fact all that remains are the entrance archway and some low walls. However, you can still imagine the importance of the site located on the North East tip of the island with clear views over to Alderny, Herm, Sark and Guernsey. Walking along the coastal path you keep coming across a reminder of a more recent period when the site was of strategic importance, all along the cost the remains of German Watchtowers, gun emplacements and bunkers, some with swastikas still carved into them, remind you that not so long ago Jersey was the front line. From the top of the coastal path you can look down the whole sweep of the single bay that forms the east coast to the south east corner of Jersey and Corbiere lighthouse.

After another trip back into St Hellier it was back out again this time to the afore mentioned Corbiere. The views from the South Easter tip are just as spectacular as those from the North Eastern. If not made all the more notable by the fact I could look directly back at the point I had been standing on less than 2 hours previously.

Corbiere lighthouse is built on a causeway that takes a good 10 minutes to cross. Thankfully as the tide had only just cleared going out it meant that I had a long time to wander over and have a look. You are not allowed into the lighthouse as it is still in use but you can get spectacular views back over the jagged rocks to the cliffs on the mainland.

After Corbiere it was a short hop on the bus to St Brelards Bay which is one of the most attractive bays on the whole of the island. Finally it was time to get back on the bus and back into St Hellier