Coasteering in Guernsey

I had paddled along this section of coast, in south east Guernsey, numerous times over the years but this week I had the first opportunity to explore it at sea level and I wasn't disappointed.

I was in Guernsey for the Channel Islands meeting of the National Coasteering Charter and it would have been foolish to spend the whole day sitting talking about the activity, without any practical input.  Ant Ford Parker from Outdoor Guernsey collected myself and Penny from Pure Adventure from the airport, to take us the car park at Jerbourg.

We could see quite clearly from the flight over that there was a reasonable swell running and it was likely to create entertaining conditions as we headed west along our chosen route towards the Pea Stacks.  The quality of the coasteering along this section of coast was higher than we expected, as we spent just over 2 hours playing along a fascinating stretch of coast.

 The descent route from Jerbourg Point car park.  St Martin's Point lighthouse is just visible on the rocks.  Our route went off to the right.

 The was plenty of swimming in the relatively choppy waters.

 A few small jumps along the way maintained the interest.

 There were a number of narrow channels to swim through, although at times the swell would surge through the gaps.

Some of the gullies provided a degree of shelter which allowed relatively easy egress from the water.

At times leaving the water was a matter of timing.

 A times a larger swell could appear creating more challenging conditions.  The white helmet of the swimmer is just visible above the right hand side of the rock.

 The Pea Stacks marked the end of the journey.  They were painted by Renoir, during his short stay in Guernsey during the summer of 1883.

 Looking back along part of the route once we had regained the cliff path.  Sark is just visible in the distance, the location of great coasteering.

Jersey Sea Kayak Symposium

After a break of 4 years we have decided to re-launch the Jersey Sea Kayak Symposium.  It will be the 11th occasion that the event will have been held in Jersey, the original one way back in 1992.  Over the years it has attracted hundreds of sea kayakers to the Island, from around the world, who left impressed by the quality of the paddling in our local waters.

So this is an ideal opportunity either to return to Jersey or to make our acquaintance for the first time. The format of the event is 3 days of workshops, skills sessions, talks and paddles followed by a further 4 days of paddling.  This might include tidal race sessions, guided historic paddles looking at Neanderthal man in Jersey or a visit to an offshore reef.  Hopefully something to appeal to kayakers of all standards.

If you want further information then contact me at kevin at seapaddler.co.uk

 Playing in tide races off the north coast of Jersey

 What about some coasteering from kayaks with a few jumps thrown in for good measure.

 Stunning sunsets, this about 200 metres from the hotel

 "Entertaining" jumps for those who want to, into warm water

 Miles of granite cliffs waiting to be explored.

 Offshore reefs.  This is the Ecrehous, approximately half way to France.

 These cliffs are just underneath the hotel.  What a place for an evening stroll.

 St Brelade's Bay is just over a mile away.  The cliffs on the opposite side of the bay contain possibly the finest neanderthal site in Europe.

Alternative paddlesports.  Try racing skis or stand up paddleboarding

Brittany Sea Kayaking Guide

If you are considering a kayaking trip to Brittany then this recently published guide is a must have book.  Written by two Breton paddlers it has been translated into English by Peter Bisset, a member of the Portsmouth Canoe Club.

Jammed full of useful information there are hours of reading, not only about the 60 recommended paddles but also about the wider issues of paddling in France.

If you are considering a visit to this delightful region of France, where there is huge sea kayaking potential for paddlers of all ability levels, then this book is a must have item.

Some more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted a few aerial shots of some of the excellent sea kayaking destinations that I have flown over fairly recently.  They illustrate the advantages of keeping a camera at hand on any flights that you take.

Approaching Jersey from the west to land on the easterly runway.  The broad sweep of St Ouen's Bay is clearly visible.

When approaching from the east aircraft normally turn over the Ecrehous.  On this day it was clearly low water.

Banking just after take off from Copenhagen.  It is always surprising just how shallow some of the water is and what a large area it covers.

 Sand banks off the north coast of Holland.

 Fawley Oil terminal en route from Gatwick to Jersey.

Glaciers to the north of the Nussuaq Peninsula, west Greenland as we started our descent into Uummannaq.  A 70 minute helicopter flight north was followed by a 3 week trip south.

The west coast of Milos.  Fortunately it wasn't as windy when we had paddled this coast a few days earlier but the wind strength produced an "interesting" flight back to Athens.

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.

Day 2 of the Blizzard

This really was exceptional weather event for Jersey, the heaviest ever one day snowfall for March and very strong winds.  Jersey Airport has been closed for 2 days, it is hoped to start flying tomorrow afternoon.  With many roads impassable it was just a matter of heading out doors, experiencing the moment and taking some photographs.

South coast cliffs around La Rosiere, Corbiere is just visible in the distance.

This is the descent path of the start of the Gorselands coasteering trip.

The path, like to roads, has filled up with wind blown snow making progress hard work.

The garden shed is clearly not spindrift proof.

La Moye Golf Course.  Not sure what number hole is disappearing in the snow.

Lisa and Chester on the Railway Walk.

Its not that often that the Jersey pistes come into condition.

Jersey's premier apres ski location.

 The Five Mile Road.  The snow wasn't as deep here as we were at sea level.  Not the depth of the drifts on the right.

 

 Nicky on the south coast footpath, it if wasn't for the gorse it could have been the Lakes in winter.

Frozen gorse.  It is difficult to imagine the impact the weather is having on birds such as Dartford Warblers.  The summer migrants, Wheatears and Sand Martins which appeared on the Island at the weekend must have had a shock.

 Beauport.  Spot the high tide mark.

A March Blizzard

After a weekend of kayak, at times in very pleasant conditions it was a bit of a shock today as the Island was hit by one of the most severe blizzards since 1979.  Not a day for sea kayaking but if dressed appropriately a day for experiencing the great outdoors.  Just a few of todays photographs.

 Corbiere lighthouse is out there somewhere

 Lisa and Nicky on the cliff path at Gorseland

 La Rosiere, we had been paddled here yesterday with Tower Hamlets Canoe Club

 Nicky on the path at La Pulente, St Ouen's is behind

Snow covered rocks at Petit Port.  The low water spring tide had exposed a significant width of seashore.

A foggy March day

The forecast was for fog patches drifting up from the French coast, the reality was dense for nearly 7 hours.  With visiting members of the Tower Hamlets Canoe Club the plan was to split in to groups, with one party heading towards the Ecrehous via the Dirioulles whilst another group took a more direct line to the reef.

Visibility was severely limited and although some of us had GPS's on the deck we had worked out the bearing using the traditional method of drawing tidal vectors, which gave us the bearing to follow.  It was particularly satisfying after nearly 6nm in such restricted visibility the houses of Marmotier popped up when we were only about 40 metres away.

It was a memorable days sea kayaking although somewhat disappointing for our English visitors that they were unable to see the views of the reef.  At least it gives them an excuse, if they need one, to return.

As usual lunch was at the bench but it was no lying around in the sun today.  Text communication with my daughter revealed that about 6 miles away she was basking in warm spring sunshine.

 Looking north along the tombolo.

Looking north through the houses.

Above shows the view towards Maitre Ile, whilst the view below is a photo taken from the same location on a slightly more pleasant day.