Inside La Rocco Tower

The wonderful old La Rocco Tower, the iconic centerpiece of St.Ouen's Bay - in the St.Brelade's section of the bay by the looks of the map in the phone book. One Sunday some weeks ago it was one of the properties featured on the heritage sites open day...

Have you ever seen so many people clambering over the reef here?

Looking back - an idea how far out it is. It's only a matter of walking for two or three minutes.

Up on the battery, evidence of work going on...

.. looking up, new stonework looks very fresh alongside the old.

At last, a chance (for my roving reporter - thanks mate!) to get inside...

A tight spiral of steps on the right as you walk in...

.. the fireplace is a bit farther along, on the side in a L'Etacq direction.

Looking down from the stairs, apparently "Say cheese!" wasn't a particularly well received line :)

At the top of the steps, the top interior level.

You would have to bring your own ladder to get through up to the roof level. It looks like the Germans reinforced it somewhat.

Looking up...

.. and an empty level after the crowds had left - the fireplace is on the opposite side on this floor, in a Corbiere direction.

Many thanks to my roving reporter, it gives me a really good idea what it's like in there, after years of wondering!

Calm day at Havre des Pas - pt II

Did you notice I'm a sucker for reflections?








.. they even make bland buildings look better.







Low-rise seafront...







.. so, obviously a 7 storey eyesore will have to go here on the corner ... *sigh*






Will they find a way to ruin this too?







The moment the dog fell in!







Man's best damp friend.







Land Gull








Up on top

Calm day at Havre des Pas

It was pretty good for mid-late October, the pool was like a mirror so I set off with camera to see what I could come up with. Here's the view at La Collette, first...







.. and the new incinerator....







.. from the pool...







.. right here.






First, a moment's silence for the death of the charming seafront at Havre des Pas. This typically Jersey hotel is going to be replaced by a SEVEN storey modern art-deco rehash monster.





But who am I to argue, I'm not the one making money out of it. Instead let's look wistfully out to sea and count our blessings.







The entrance







Outside and in







It's like one of them there "infinity pool" thingies.
















Is nowhere sacred?







More next time....

Changes at Devil's Hole

Here are some pics from mid August that I've been sitting on for a while, but I might as well publish them while I decide whether to carry on with blogging my pics. There are a number of reasons for a lack of motivation recently. The audience isn't exactly massive (although a small number of very appreciative supporters certainly helps) and a lack of feedback is discouraging, I've been more keen on playing with HD video lately, blogger.com still haven't sorted out an RSS feeds problem which is annoying me, and it looks like some proposed change to the Data Protection Law here may force me to give up if I can't be anonymous any more. In addition, my personal life has reached a level of stress that I'm only just managing to cope with, with no clearly visible light at the end of the tunnel that I could be reasonably sure isn't an oncoming train :)

Plus, I'm finding that I've photographed so much of the island that it's really hard to find inspiration for photo-missions any more.

It also hasn't helped that the weather has been appalling for my kind of photography for what seems like months, and I have become fussy about 'quality of light' as they say. A lot of this summer seemed to be very hazy, with poor visibilty to the distance - for a zoom lens enthusiast like myself that's a bit limiting.

Anyhow, I haven't given up yet, and I've quite a few collections of video clips from various days out that I've yet to edit together, so when time permits.... there should be more yet from this crapaud!

---

Ample parking at the Devil's Hole pub "The Priory Inn"...







Not far down the path, the pond (and view of the statue) needs a bit of maintenance.







That's a new bridge...








.. and over the other side of the hole...







.. a reduced size viewing area...








.. with new platform.







New fencing (small coastal viewing area removed, to my annoyance) and revamped rest area.






View looking to the west








Access Denied







Back in the days before 'elf-n-safety' when people were willing to be responsible for their own actions, there were a number of routes down into the hole over the years. I guess I'll have to learn rock climbing rope skills if I ever want to get down there now.

Rozel from Le Couperon Point

As well as the dolmen, guardhouse, and the beach of Saie/Scez, Le Couperon (map) also offers views towards Rozel...



Wide angle...







.. closer (1 - with sky)...







.. (2 - with foreground coast)...








.. closer...







.. closer to the pierhead...







.. and colourful huts.








To the left, the area between the main slipway and the St.Martin/Trinity border (to the left here).