Various

We recently enjoyed a bit of a rough high tide on a sunny evening, lots of people enjoyed the spectacle along the west coast...

.. lots of birds stirred up at La Pulente.

La Saline, with St.Brelade in the background.

Luxury houses take shape at the old Chateau site...

... closer.

St Aubin, and what variety of numpty approved that modern box up there on the skyline above the old traditional streetscape? I like up to date architecture but this is well out of place!

Numpties At Work, part II - sad to report the death of Common Sense. Several parking spaces have had to go JUST so that there is one entrance/exit opening. Was it really so bad?!!!

To the East then, and a good low tide goes out quite some distance beyond the end of the unfinished Archirondel breakwater.

A tide like that means you can walk in a straight line between La Rocque and the castle without getting your ankles wet.

At the harbour...

.. nice spot for fishing...

.. the old and new ferries...

.. from the Victoria pierhead.

To the Albert Pier, and the ramp has gone at last...

.. the top of the ramp used to be here.

View from Westmount...

.. a new carpark ready to make up for the spaces lost when the ruling elite of the island ignores The People and goes for total overkill on Selling Out to Tax Evasion/Avoidance and builds unwanted monuments to greed on the Esplanade.

.. closer. There's going to be a LOT more traffic down the 'waterfront' when this opens!

10 Wharf St - what was once the Golden Egg, latterly the Buddhabar, then Harlem....

.. is now the Tiki Hut

I used to quite like the ramshackle corner that was the Turkish Kitchen...

.. boarded up for redevelopment...

... now emerging as St. Helier's newest conveniences.

A Tesco in Jersey? Who'd have thought? We get to walk in from Sand St and emerge in York Street again.

Bunker Hunting - Resistance Nest Höhe 313

I bet this bunker is one that 99% of Jersey residents have never seen, tucked away as it is down a remote track in St.Martin...

From the lane "Rue de la Ville Bree" it's a 3 minute walk between the fields, with distant sea views to the right.....

 ... to a point halfway along the track "Rue Crespel" where there's T-junction. Turn right into Le Becquet (according to all good maps) and the character of the the track changes as it's a bit of a cutting below the level of the fields either side.Just as I was thinking that the track is fairly good and I might just risk driving the car down here one day, all of a sudden....

 .. there it is on the right - the familiar sight of a roadside entrance to one of those shelters made from an arched corrugated metal structure covered over from above.

Looking in. Other photos exist online if you want to see the view inside the shelter. Try tracesofwarjersey.com

If you get to the bend here - with a view over to the old La Tourelle - you've gone too far..... but you really can't miss it :)

I've no idea why this out of the way spot was chosen for a resistance nest, but at least they had good views from here.

On a bunker hunt you start to wonder about every bit of concrete you see.... is this too much just for a water tank? :)

BTW Höhe means height, so Hohe 313 is the name for this RN at 313ft above sea level because they couldn't think up a better name for it! Similarly there are RNs Hohe 212 and Hohe 190 on the ridge overlooking Grouville Bay near Queen's Valley, Hohe 175 overlooking Sandybrook, Hohe 266 tucked away up on the dunes (about 800ft east of the prehistoric stones "The Ossuary" and neaby menhirs) and Hohe 201 above La Carriere on the 5 Mile Beach. And near El Tico there's another RN at 43ft but this time they named it after the steps to the beach - RN Steps 43 it is!

Return to bunkers index page

Traces of occupation at Plemont

With most of the Plement holiday camp eyesore removed, the old observation point bunker M3 has been revealed, along with what appears to be the start of a footpath from the far carpark.Also note the bunker on the sea side of the coast path - more later.

On the way to the bunker, a view of the least enticing laundrette I've ever seen (maybe I haven't travelled enough!).

And so to M3, the west side...

.. around to the north-east corner...

.. and from the east side, we see that a covered corridor is open at each end, with the entrance to the bunker well sheltered in the middle.

A mortar position is a little distance away to the east.

Next, we scrambled down to the cliff path, and then from there found our way to a machine gun position with shelter, below M3. This vaulted metal shelter is open at each end...

.. (looking back) with ways in from a protective passageway each end (no torches needed in this one, it's light in the daytime).

If you make your way around the outside, or through the passageway, you reach one of those semicircular MG "table" positions. Here we're looking back (to the west) at the shelter bunker.

In the same direction, halfway along the passage, the entrance on the left....

.. is this one, now from the other direction. The shelter is to our right here, with another couple of entrances behind us to the right.If you want to visit this one, be prepared to deal with gorse!

Back to the more well known fortifications, the centuries old guardhouse later adapted by the occupying forces as a searchlight position, as seen from the tower...

.. here. I'd be grateful to hear what's under the concrete on the left, which is part of the footpath at the moment - if anyone knows?

A little distance to the east of that tower, and in line with the final stretch of the lane as it reaches the parking area, some kind of shaft provides a little mystery, and the possibility that there's a bunker beneath? Whatever lies below, the drop is a few feet at least.

 Could it be this one? The angle of the tower in the background looks about right to me. UPDATE : see the comments for confirmation that this is the Luftwaffe Flugwache position (lookout post) - thanks go to Matthew Costard, Vice-President, CIOS (Jersey) 

UPDATE And another mortar & tobruk ringstand has been revealed near the lane to the far carpark (you have to climb a bank to see it)...

 ... it's right next to the small pumping station which appears to be staying put.



Return to bunkers index page

Getting misc-y again

Up at the airport, a huge new cargo handling shed is making the area look a bit overdeveloped.

The Esplanade certainly is. Traditional old Jersey buildings got flattened for this latest monstrosity.

And why not rip up the greenery at the waterfront...

 .. to build even more temples to Finance?

- never mind, a replacement carpark on the Simply The Best site will make up for the lost spaces, the extra walk will do us good I'm sure :(

Another great idea - put a huge electricity substation in the middle of the upper park!

And rip up the grass here at Bel Royal because it's too much effort to mow it, and restore it to a 'natural look'.

On a more positive note, the First Tower station cafe has a bright and cheerful new paint job....

.. colourful even with the light behind it. I approve!

I got a laugh from spotting this at La Rocque :)

A new Condor ferry. Not sure about the pink and yellow, I have to say.

At the berth. Quite a low tide today...

This afternoon it would have been possible to walk from the beach by Gorey Castle, to Anne Port, around to Archirondel...past the end of the unfinished breakwater...

.. all the way to St Catherine on the beach...

 .. and clamber up to the slipway there. That's one heck of a low tide!

Back to town for more low tidings, and here's the castle high and dry...

 .. and looking past the fuel berth, the hermitage rock on the castle breakwater and a mine control bunker.