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.