May 13: Jersey Island: Ouen's Bay hike

Previous: May 12

Given the weather and the state of our legs, we settled on a hike along the western edge of Jersey. The hiking trail runs along a backwards-C-shaped stretch of coast that stretches from the northern end at L'étacq, near where we started the Gros Nez hike earlier in the trip, and runs about 12 km south at La Corbière. The brochure suggests allowing 4 hours, but we completed the walk in 3 hours. Most of the walk can be done easily along the beach, but occasionally you have to climb back onto the parallel trail that runs along the top of the sea wall to get around wetter areas or rock outcrops.

We started the hike late morning, when we still had several hours before the tide would begin moving in-shore. Today was our first forecast of significant rain, with predictions of moderate to heavy precip in the late morning followed by sun and more rain later in the day. Winds were expected to be significant, ranging up to Beaufort Scale values of 5 and maybe even 6 (i.e., about 34 km/h but gusting to 44 km/h). Strong, but not a problem because we paid attention to the weather forecasts and planned to hike downwind or cross-wind rather than hiking the whole way with the wind and rain in our faces.

Before the rain came, it was fascinating watching the sand blowing along the beach surface, like dry snow in a blizzard. It formed tiny little barchan dunes a couple feet across and a few centimetres tall, which is the small-scale version of what you see in major deserts like the Sahara.

No photos from the first part of the hike because rain was clearly visible far out at sea as a fuzzy veil over the horizon, and because the sky was growing darker and darker as the clouds approached. So we put got on our rain pants, straightened up our jackets, and packed away the camera and phones and covered up our backpacks with their rain shields well before the storm hit.

When the rain arrived, it wasn't bad enough to completely soak through our coats, but there were certainly a few damp spots that might have wetter through if the rain kept going. But after an hour or so, the storm passed. We kept our hoods on anyway because of blowing grit. One of the luxuries of having money is that you can afford good gear, and with good gear, bad weather becomes quite tolerable, possibly even pleasant.

As in all similar long-distance hikes, it's fun to watch the starting point receding in the distance. We also passed a landmark called "Rocco's Tower" (a small fort about half a kilometre offshore) that started out ahead of us, then gradually fell behind. Midway along, we stopped for a bathroom break at a café a hundred metres or so above the beach. Did I mention how civilized it is to have such amenities located strategically along the route? In better weather, we might have stopped for lunch.

Rocco's tower and looking back at our starting point:

We passed a cute little white-painted stone building called "Le Don Hilton" that you can rent for overnight stays if you're a masochist. This one is clearly part of the hotel tycoon's learning curve*, as Shoshanna found a Web description of the place as a "stone tent" with room for six—if you bring your own beds—but no bathroom (unless you also rent a port-a-potty) and only a single two-plug electrical connection.

* The name actually has nothing to do with the hotel tycoon; it was a gift (in French, a don) to the Jersey Heritage Trust from the wife of a captain named Hilton. At one point, it was a guardhouse, but the current version was built in 1765 when the original building exploded. Don't you hate when hotels do that?

Less cute, there are World War II bunkers scattered along the island's whole coast. Some are easy to miss if you're not looking carefully. Others are pretty obvious:

The hike was pleasant and uneventful, though we kept our eyes on the seawall to be sure we knew where the nearest staircase was. These are provided at erratic intervals to allow escape from the beach when the tide rose, since the sea walls are too steep to climb. The weather forecast suggested the tide would not come in until later in the afternoon. Nonetheless, in case we'd misunderstood the tide forecast, we wanted to be sure we wouldn't get trapped on the beach. The slope is shallow enough that the water comes in awfully fast, particularly when blown by a strong onshore wind, as was the case during our hike. Trudy, our seabed-walk guide from the start of our visit to Jersey, explained something she called the "rule of 12", which is a shortcut for estimating how the tide comes in: in the first hour, it rises 1/12th of the total rise; in the second hour, 2/12ths, in the third hour, 3/12ths; and thereafter counts those steps in reverse. In summary, the tide initially comes in deceptively slowly before accelerating quickly.

The rugged Ouen coast and Corbière lighthouse:

At the end of the hike, at the Corbière lighthouse, there was a conveniently located ice cream stand, so I had my second taste of Jersey ice cream. It was better than the first. Whole-fat ice cream for the win! "Corbière" means a place where crows gather, and although there were a few crows, they were nothing like the hordes that blacken the sky during their gatherings back home in Kingston.

For dinner, we went to Rafiki, a restaurant run by Elena's daughter and son-in-law, who's from Kenya. The name means "friends". For dinner we had potato croquettes covered in grated parmesan and with minced-meat and peas in the center, with a piquant tomato sauce. Shoshanna had grilled cod with vegetables and two sauces (a spicy green sauce and a smoky tomato sauce) and a corn-mush for starch. I had a goat curry, which was deliciously spiced and savory but not hot, with majumbar (cucumber and tomato salad with the same green sauce provided with Shoshanna's fish). We shared a nice Kenyan beer named "Tusker" that's been around for more than 100 years. It's a nice light summer beer with only a hint of a bitter finish. Finished off with a fresh-baked chocolate brownie with a nicely chewy skin, chocolate drizzle, and a really excellent scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Tomorrow's plan is to go to the Jersey Zoo, since it's expected to rain quite a bit, and we can spend time indoors when it rains.

Next: May 14