Channel Islands

[Kyng]

(Source: Copernicus Sentinel-2 / ESA; View licence terms)

The Channel Islands are a group of islands located off the north-west coast of France. They consist of eight inhabited islands (plus a load of small uninhabited islets), but the main five are (in descending order of size and population): Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm. There are an estimated 166,722 people living on the islands: just over 100,000 of these live on Jersey; a little over 60,000 live on Guernsey; around 2,000 live on Alderney; about 500 live on Sark; and Herm is home to about 60 people.

These islands are in a complicated place politically: they're possessions of the UK's royal family, and the UK is responsible for their defence and foreign relations, but they aren't actually part of the UK (nor are they in the European Union). To understand why this is, we'll have to go all the way back to William the Conqueror, who famously became King of England in 1066. Before he was King of England, he was the Duke of Normandy (which covered part of northern France, as well as the Channel Islands). However, after becoming King of England, he didn't abandon Normandy: he was still the Duke there, as were all the subsequent kings and queens of England. Eventually, France re-conquered the mainland parts of Normandy; however, they never took back the Channel Islands. As a result, the British monarchy still holds onto the Channel Islands nearly 1,000 years later, but they were never integrated into the UK: they're what's left of the Duchy of Normandy. (This does have some interesting historical consequences; for example, Sark was the last place in Europe to have a feudal system: they didn't abolish it until 2008!)

Historically, the Norman language was spoken throughout Normandy and the Channel Islands. However, after the Channel Islands became politically separated from the rest of Normandy, each of the major islands developed its own variety of Norman: Jersey had Jèrriais, Guernsey had Dgèrnésiais, Alderney had Auregnais, and Sark had Sercquiais (which is in fact a descendent of Jèrriais). These days, though, they've been largely displaced by English: Auregnais went extinct around 1960, and the others are spoken mostly by older people (I highly doubt there are any monolingual speakers left). There are efforts to keep Jèrriais and Dgèrnésiais alive (for example, by installing bilingual signs); however, these seem to be geared more towards "post-vernacular maintenance" than restoring them as languages of wider communication.

So, what is there to see on the Channel Islands? The answer is, quite a bit: the islands have some excellent beaches (such as Beauport Beach in Jersey and Belvoir Bay in Herm). In addition, there are several military installations, dating from the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II: the most impressive of these is Hohlgangsanlage 8, an underground hospital on Jersey. Then there's Elizabeth Castle, on a tidal island just off the coast of Jersey: it was used all the way up to World War II (so, significantly later than most castles). Finally, I can't close this section without mentioning Nigel Mansell's motor museum - where I was fortunate enough to meet the great man himself !

So, who's been to the Channel Islands, and what are your experiences of them?

[Detective Osprey]

That satellite image is beautiful. Love how blue and green it is.

Hope to go there someday.

[Kyng]

Apparently, 40 colourful gorillas have been placed around Jersey:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-49127135

Reminds me of the rhinos that were put around Chester a few years ago!

[Opal Fruit]

Aha! - didn't notice this thread before.

As some will have read over on the Discord chat, I went to Jersey for a holiday a few weeks ago. It was one of those places I felt I'd like to visit one day, and an opportunity arose this year and I took it. I don't know if I'll ever get to the other islands, but never say never.

I did read about the gorilla trail, but we were just a bit early for that. 

Jersey is only about 9 miles by 5 miles! - it's quite hard to get one's head around it when I think it takes about 3 miles as it is to get to my closest town centre and that's nothing. Therefore, anywhere we wanted to go to was such a short car journey away. Considering the other islands are even smaller, how could I ever get my head around those?!

The weather smiled on us - and probably a bit too much at times when I had to walk for ages in it! Low 20s - warm enough - and what I hoped for after fearing rain, due to its placement near the top of France. However, thank goodness we didn't go a week later when it was in the 30s, I would have really struggled with the outdoor pursuits then. 

There was a mix of English and French - or if you like 'Norman' - influences. They had a Costa, they had Morrisons supermarkets, cars on the left - typical UK sights, yet you still felt like you were abroad, due to the styling of the houses, and many of the roads and placenames retain a French/Norman name. Where we stayed, we had such a lovely view of the sea and fortress (at St Aubin’s Harbour) and Elizabeth Castle in the not-so-far distance.

I regret that I did not see a Jersey cow. However, we had a few Jersey ice creams! Beware: many places did not include a Flake!

What you come to know, visiting various places around Jersey, is that when the German's occupied the island during WWII they left a lot of bunkers around. I should have counted the amount that I saw, some of which were placed in what I mention below.

So a few of the tourist attractions we visited, in no particular order, were:

Jersey Zoo, which we wanted to see due to its Gerald Durrell link. He was all about zoos being used to help support and preserve endangered species, not merely to show them for fun to visitors, which is strange to think now, but zoos weren't so much about helping with conservation, worldwide projects, etc. a few decades ago.

La Hougue Bie, a historical Neolithic site, home to one of the oldest buildings in the world. It also holds the world's largest Celtic coin hoard, found nearby, within a museum which also contains plenty of other interesting finds. Upon the 'passage grave' you can walk into is a mound with a Mediaeval church you can climb up to. Recently a Neolithic 'longhouse' was built by volunteers and that was very interesting to look around, too. 
 
On that note, I also saw a ‘Dolmen’ of which there are a few here. These are also small Neolithic sites of stone. Mistakenly went to a different one to what we had planned and I only realised the following day that this was so – oh well!
 
Jersey War Tunnels, built deep into a hillside by slave labour, now open to the public to catch a glimpse of the life of those in Jersey during WWII, with quite a few tunnels (including a sobering unfinished tunnel), and rooms to see now in exhibition form. I would say more about it but I got interrupted whilst typing this and have lost my flow!
 
Lavender Farm, probably wouldn’t have done this in alternative company, yet rather a pleasant little area. I wish I didn’t have to stand with the sun burning into my back during the very long talk in the barn… Red Squirrels apparently live in the woodland part, but sadly I was not to see any. Had a go on a swing – wahey!
 
La Corbiere Lighthouse, ‘a place where crows gather’, a concrete structure built amongst some treacherous yet certainly scenic sea and rocks. You can cross closer to the lighthouse when the tide is out. If it wasn’t a slight faff to do, really I should display some photos here. Perhaps I will get to it; perhaps I won’t.
 
Mont Orgueil and Elizabeth Castle, which Kyng mentioned (apologies for repeating anything). Castles are always a must for me. Both are quite different and interesting experiences, due to the periods when they were built and their future inhabitants and their positioning. You can get to Elizabeth by amphibious vehicle or walk it, as it is approached via the beach… unless the tide is in and you definitely get the amphibious boat back. We walked there and got the vehicle back, though the tide had not properly come in and so it was still a rather bumpy, wheeled, ride. There was a random chicken walking around at the back part of Elizabeth and I am not entirely sure why. Orguiel has a cat that visits a lot and we got to meet her (?) whilst on the tour – perhaps the true owner of the castle? Interesting was that as you walk behind the castle to the extra buildings and ‘pier’, you see upon a raised bit, the ‘hermitage’, the place where St Helier is thought to have lived around 550 AD. You could walk up to it, but I’d had quite my fill of walking that day and ascending steep steps was not quite what I had the energy for. The tale was interesting, though, to actually learn a more about this local saint.  
 
I went or might not come back to this and add to, because I ran out of steam writing it once I got interrupted! Just ask if you’d like any extra info.

[Kyng]

Nice summary of Jersey's attractions there . I'll also give a shout-out to La Mare Wine Estate, which is Jersey's only working vineyard. Both of us missed it in our previous posts, but it was nice to walk around (even if I wasn't old enough to have any of the wine back when I went in 2003 )

I didn't see the Neolithic sites, but I did see plenty of the German World War II ones. Speaking of which, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation - and, to commemorate it, they've released records of political prisoners who resisted against the Nazis:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020...ed-records

Seems there were quite a lot of them - some as young as 14 or 15 !