Seldom seen coastline at La Moye

I finally got to see a stretch of coastline that had eluded me for years. There's a bit of a gap in the cliff paths by the prison. From the west you have to head inland past the 'golfball' radar (with a tantalising bunker on the headland which can't be easily reached, let alone whether by trespassing on private land or not), go past the prison with the sea views some distance away, and finally rejoin the cliffpaths at 'Ficquet' on the way to Beauport.

From the corner of the prison there is a private road leading to houses and a bunker used by the local ham radio club. From there, a gap to the side of a fenced-off farm track once took me down here...

.. around to the right... but the last time I was here I was too tired to try seeing if there was a way through the trees. But a friend of mine recently had a go at this piece of coast, and advised me to have a go.

Thanks also to evidence of a path on 'satellite' maps, I found it was indeed easy enough to get through the trees. You can rely upon anglers to create paths to all parts of our coast in their quest to find secluded spots for great fishing!

Even by the last of the fields, the views are looking promising.

We emerge out of the woodland (packed with squirrels!)...

.. and a well-worn track cuts through the 'hottentot figs' (that's one of those words that can make you feel guilty just typing it. Oh, and don't look up 'hottentot apron' if you blush easily).

(looking back) The path can get a little close to the cliff edge, but nothing too unusual to a seasoned walker.

The end of the path - it's just rocks and deep ravines. No easy way to the west. An official cliff path would have to head up over the top of the headland, if the landowners could be persuaded to share their sea views with us peasants :)

And now you can enjoy the tranquil setting with great views.

Zooming in... La Cotte, the famous cave of prehistoric remains.

Ouaisne peeks through the rocks.

Two towers at Noirmont, and the rocks of the Violet Bank far beyond.

I recommend the walk, if you want to take your chances with private land (?). I did hear there wasn't actually any Law of Trespass in Jersey though ;)

By the way, is anyone else having trouble uploading pics to blogs? It's getting very silly now how complicated it is becoming. I hope you appreciate the effort involved :
a) take memory card out of the camera, insert into USB adaptor, load onto main off-line PC
b) select anything worth publishing, rotate (to level up) as needed (usually every damn time!), adjust contrast/brightness/gamma, colour balance, crop, resize down to web-size, save.
c) copy a folder-full to be published onto 'clean' USB stick to take to an online device for uploading to internet
d) load onto a non-Windows device. This one has a problem selecting more than one pic at a time in the blog posting upload dialog, so I need to pass onto another machine...
e) copy onto a 'dirty' USB stick (could be infected for all I know).
f) take the USB key to an old laptop, online. (by using two USB sticks via a Unix-based intermediate machine, hopefully any Windows infections won't get passed on?)
g) try to upload to a new blog posting. Fails. Pics don't appear in the posting, but do go into the web album elsewhere...
h) go back to the non-Windows device, load up the draft posting again, select the new pics from the web album (from the far end of hundreds that take an age to display) and finally get to see them in the posting.
i) Working on whichever machine is more comfortable, charged and connected ... labour away at clicking each pic, selecting small size and left alignment, add a single character of text while I still have a chance, because often if you try to add something later the cursor won't go where you want it to - needs messing about in the HTML editor :(
j) at last I get to write a bit for each pic (replacing the single character added earlier), trying to make things flow and give the reader a sense of place and direction. And try not to give away any clues who or where I am, in case I've ever upset any local psychos - and because I like to wander around totally incognito.
k) These days I seem to need to re-order the sequence because the  pics don't display in the order I carefully named the shots! Not easy! I have to do it via HTML editing because the 'compose' view often breaks things :(
l) add div and /div sections in the HTML because long bits of text bleed into the next one, and there's no easy way to force a blank line!
m) then I can finish off by setting labels, location, and... publish!
n) sit back exhausted and wait for one or two comments, wonder why all those hits don't generate more comment :)

I guess it's still a joy to publish things, even after all this time!

I know what I did this summer

I have taken a few sets of pics this summer, but before I start publishing those I'll kick things off with the odds and ends that have made me whip out the camera...

One for postbox enthusiasts, the pillarbox relocated from Liberation Square to the Waterfront.

By St.Ouen's Pond, a new cutting through a bird-watching mound...

..which originally covered a bunker...

.. two months later, and we can see the plan coming together - a new bird-watching construction which will make use of the bunker as an educational facility.

At the other side of the island, low tide and some people for scale... really rams home just how big a project the breakwater was in the 1840s!

Nearby, the sand sculpture man is still creating awesome masterpieces.

This rotting tree trunk at the roadside looks just like a croc, no?

A new tenant for this Bath St property at West's Ctr - Sweet Nelly's ices.

This curved property at Greve d'Azette/Green Rd has yet another tenant (so so many over the years!)...

.. Mesquita's Stores

Farther along the road, and the tatty (see on Google Maps) White Horse has been tarted up into an 'eatery' with the side building removed.

The hotel at Greve de Lecq is currently being flattened.

The Battle Funfair was billed as a travelling "theme park" this year, despite being nothing like a theme park - having no theme other than "look really deserted after the first cheap night". This ride is hundreds of feet higher than I could stomach :)

The shelter and rest stop on the Devil's Hole walk needs some attention.. please...

..it has been there for quite some time if this sweet graffiti from 1967 is anything to go by. Two honeymoon couples here at the same time - that's sooooo 60's Jersey, isn't it? How far our Tourism 'industry' has declined :(

At the top of the walk, the Priory Inn has a new playzone called Little Devils which is one all parents should check out - it's a cheap way to keep them busy and wear them out!


While you're there, check out the little studio at the entrance to the pub car park - Glyn Burton's glasswork skills are very impressive.

Summer in St.Ouen's Bay...

.. La Rocco Tower undergoes some essential repairs. It's open for viewing on the NTJ Open Day next weekend, btw.

Looking the other way, towards the lighthouse.

If I'd have bothered to get out of the car, instead of shooting through the windscreen, I might have had a clearer pic!

Happy Landings.

Airport fire crew go for a drive.

There were actually 3 double-deckers in a row, which was unusual enough to make me stop and whip out the camera, but by the time it switched on, zoomed and focused, one had gone past.

I'm saddened to see that Jersey Water have closed the land at Mt Rossignol, to the west of Val de la Mare reservoir, which used to be open (see on Google Maps). Nice peaceful area with great views, a real shame that we've lost access.

Archirondel Tower...

.. and St.Catherine's Tower.

If you're going to use the word 'scrap' be careful in 3D situations where the first letter will often be obscured!

Finally, to Flicquet/Fliquet (never did work out whether the C is required or not)... and a small concrete structure looks a bit occupation-y ...

.. but it's not worth borrowing their garden for a few moments, as there's nothing to see up above.

The back of St.Cath's.

The truncated tower.