Wednesday 24 March 2010

Night and Day @ 50 Colomberie

50 Colomberie, a £7 million property designed by Naish Waddington and owned by Richard Brocken, features a new £40,000 aluminium-bronze relief called Night and Day, created by acclaimed sculptor Michael Sandle (73) as part of the Percentage for Art scheme.




.. closer.


















Tuesday 23 March 2010

Ann Court carpark

(Some shots of what Ann Court used to look like)

The demolition is complete, the ground has been levelled and parking spaces marked out. It makes a nice open area, it could be a good town park ;)

Having said that, it was a nice warm weekend day, and I didn't see any kids playing here - it could be great for a kick-about - so is the demand really there?



They saved one tree!







Temporary car park, or part of a plan to get residents used to it?




It's a good place for parking, nice and close to the town center.






Looking up Minden Place...






.. closer.





.. and closer. I couldn't really make it out in the viewfinder from a distance, so it's always a pleasant surprise to accidently capture a shapely lady by complete fluke :)

Shows how warm it was for mid March, not bad at all... Jersey the Sunshine Island and all that.

Monday 22 March 2010

The Military Past at Les Landes

One of the most obvious signs of German WWII activity - a naval look-out tower. With people nearby for a sense of scale - there is one viewing slit per internal floor.





There are two others in Jersey, at Corbiere and Noirmont - a number of others were planned but never built.









Closer - again with Guernsey in the distance.





Showing the commanding view...









.. closer.




In the bay between the tower and the headland to the south, a number of big guns were dumped over the cliffs after the war, to stop them being used again and to erase unpleasant memories of the war.



Plans were recently announced from Guernsey to hoist one of the largest up by helicopter to take it back "home" to its wartime position - where it had been for most of the war.




This hasn't gone down well (excuse the mild pun) with local rock climbers who fear the rockface may be damaged in the process of retrieval.






.. however, I believe a competent Chinook pilot ought to be able to handle it. Just how much "damage" can you do to a cliff anyway? Don't climbers relish a new challenge is the cliff changes slightly?



The principle has already been established to place old guns as a reminder of the war, lest we forget, etc.








On a headland overlooking Le Pinacle, it looks like a german position of some sort.







More guns quietly rusting away.






Meanwhile, this bunker overlooking Stinky Bay...







.. L'Etacq, and all over the bay to Corbiere...






.. has been sealed up recently with metal sheeting. Spoilsports! I hope they don't do that with the open shelter bunker closer to the tower.

Saturday 20 March 2010

Extreme Low Tide - Les Landes

A great day up at Les Landes, during the lowest tide of the year - less than 1ft. Nice and sunny, and sheltered from the east wind it was T-shirt conditions - which was brilliant for a winter day!


With the tide so low, I don't expect you'd usually see quite so much of the rocks below Le Pinacle...








.. or below the German WWII lookout tower.







There's a vast expanse of rock ...







.. at L'Etacq.







"Stinky Bay"







.. and more.






A dark seam of rock below the tower.







.. and a pink one.







That's just begging to be tipped over! :)







Are these rocks trying to say something?








That's that other island in the distance...





.. right a bit, and closer. St.Peter Port.







The area around Le Pinacle ...






.. and evidence of prehistoric activity.






If you're not likely to ever set foot on top of the stack, here's what it looks like up there.






Two churches and a mill.






The whole snap of a view over St.Ouen's Bay...








.. and a closer bit.

More next time, as we take a look at military WWII relics up there.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

La Coupe

The little guardhouse at La Coupe (map) ...
.. seems to have sprouted a pic of me!
(Not my doing)
New house on the skyline, which has raised plenty of criticism I've heard...
.. closer .. although now isn't the time to complain about it, considering the owner/developer's recent bereavement. Condolences to Ms R.
But you can probably guess what I'm thinking about the Planning Dept., given the number of large developments around the coast prominently on the skyline these days.
Rozel and fields of plastic.
Wotcha Sheg! (or whatever it is - I really must learn what the various local birds are)

Earlier pages at La Coupe  :
The Lookout Tower - crapaudmatic.blogspot.com/2008/08/la-coupe-lookout-tower.html
The battery - crapaudmatic.blogspot.com/2008/08/la-coupe-battery.html
The beach - crapaudmatic.blogspot.com/2008/08/beach-la-coupe.html