St Brelade's Bay on Mother's Day

Today was one of the first Sunday mornings this year which didn't have strong winds forecast so the Jersey Canoe Club Sunday morning session headed west from St Brelade's along one of the most pleasant stretches of Jersey's coastline.

 We changed in perfect spring sunshine but by the time we launched the clouds had gathered.  we were paddling along the stretch of coast which is close to the hotel where the Jersey Sea Kayak Symposium is going to held in May.

 Part of the group under Corbiere Lighthouse.  I know that I am biased by I reckon it is the most beautiful lighthouse in the world.

 As we headed east the sun did manage to break through.  This section of coast is perfect for coasteering in the summer months, fingers crossed for warmer weather.

 Cliffs just to the west of Beauport.  Always a pleasure to paddle past these granite faces.

Time to head in for the Mother's Day beer!

After the blizzard its time to paddle

After the snow it was time to head out kayaking again and to see how the Island had been transformed in the matter of a couple of days.  Nicky and myself took advantage of the early morning sunshine to launch from St Brelade's but it was obvious that the snow was already disappearing.  It was a beautiful 90 minutes out on the water, well worth the effort of digging the car out of the snow on the drive.

Nicky at St Brelade's.  Spring tides mean long carries.

 We headed east first towards La Cotte de St Brelade.  Probably the most important archaeological site in Jersey.  

 Looking into the heart of La Cotte de St Brelade.  More than a quarter of a million artefacts have been excavated at this site, which is proving crucial to our understanding of the Palaeolithic era in northern Europe.

From here we turned west towards Pt la Moye and the granite cliffs of the south west corner of the Island.

Pt la Moye, a popular destination with fishermen, not surprisingly we had the area to ourselves today.

Once we had been able to see Corbiere, we turned and headed back towards St Brelade's.

This is a great place to explore, on Sunday we had been scrambling and wading through the cave, which is just in front of the bow of the kayak.  Today though with a sea temperature below 7 degrees we wanted to keep as dry as possible.

 Beauport.  The 8 metre raised beach is visible at the back of the bay.  It is hard to imagine that this time last year people would have been sitting on this beautiful south facing beach.  Roll on the summer.

Sunday Morning Session

It has been a few weeks since I have been able to go out on the Canoe Club's Sunday morning session so it was a real pleasure to be able to get on the water today.  Just a couple of hours but some superb scenery.

 Leaving from St Brelade's with the parish church behind.  Just to the left of the church the "Fisherman's Chapel" is visible.  It was possible built in the 9th century.  Many of the interior paintings are over 600 years old.

 Crossing Beauport Bay, one of the most attractive on the Island.  The cliffs, poking through the trees, are from when the sea level was about 8 metres above its present level.

 Passing the desalination plant, which is located in an old quarry.  The entrance to the quarry is just visible above the bow of the orange kayak.  This quarry provided London with some of the stone for the Thames Embankment.

 Interesting cloud formations.  Almost like a series of steps.

 Passing underneath a German fortification.  It was used by Jersey Radio for a number of years before it was converted into holiday accommodation by Jersey Heritage.

Corbiere Lighthouse was first lit on the 24th April 1874 and it was the first lighthouse in Britain to be built out of concrete.  Although not as big as many other lights, it is a classic shape.  Beyond the lighthouse the nearest land to the west is Newfoundland.

Mother's Day Paddle

With the weather much better than forecast the Jersey Canoe Clubs Mother's Day paddle was from St Brelade's Bay.  We headed west under the cliffs, towards Corbiere, pushing against the first of the flood tide.

There is always so much for the sea kayaker to see along this stretch of coast both historically and physically, set against a dynamic marine environment. Today a low westerly swell was adding some extra entertainment in places a delightful start to Mother's Day regardless of whether you are male or female 

 Crossing Beauport.  This is one of the most beautiful bays on the Island.  It is a bit of a walk down from the car park so it never gets really crowded even in the height of summer.  Around the bay there are a number of small cliffs dotted around the hillsides.  These are former sea cliffs formed when the sea level was about 8 metres above its present height.

 Les Kaines Reef runs from just to the west of Beauport towards Pt La Moye.

 The SS Roebuck struck the Les Kaines Reef on the 11th July 1911 fortunately without any loss of life, but it did result in one of the most spectacular ship wrecks in the Channel Islands as the tide dropped.

 Matt in the channel between the western edge of the Les Kaines and Pt La Moye.  There were some spectacular cloud formations to the south, towards northern Brittany.

 In 1970 Jersey Water built the first desalination plant in the British Isles in an abandoned quarry at La Rosiere.  Paddling along the coast it is possible to see some of the workings.  These quarries provided stone for a number of projects including the sea wall in St Aubin's Bay between La Haule and Millbrook.  They also provided some of the stone for the Thames Embankment in London.

 Completed in 1874 Corbiere Lighthouse was the first one in the British Isles to be built entirely of concrete. 

 Pete just to the east of Pt La Moye.  Just above and behind his head are some small fields known as cotils.  This is where the early Jersey Royal Potatoes are planted, due to the angle of the fields the majority of the work has to be undertaken by hand.

 Heading back into St Brelade's Bay, voted the second best beach in the British Isles.  A delightful paddle for Mother's Day.