By Rachel
On holiday in Jersey, me and my partner Andrew decided to dodge the expense of a hire car and to rent a pair of bikes instead. This turned out to be the best decision ever, it’s easy to forget how much more you take in when you slow down and go by two wheels or two feet.
We’d pack for all eventualities so that we were free to go wherever we wanted without worrying about being hungry, cold or wet. I didn’t know much about Jersey before our visit, the season had started to cool in the northern lakes and we were heading south to try to keep hold of the fragile summer for as long as possible.
Soon after borrowing our bikes, we discovered that it’s quite easy to get around Jersey off road using the old railway line. With the tracks and trains long gone, we saw many other cyclists and walkers making use of it. Railway lines tend to be fairly flat which suits me. Despite living in the mountainous lake district, my 3 mile cycle to work is flat and I still hate cycling uphill. Even the Atom Packs gravel gang (where staff members meet for more exciting off-road trails after work) can’t convince me that the long slog of peddling up a steep incline is any fun. I’ll stick to one foot in front of the other on the fells thank you.
Our first journey was a trip into the capital Saint Helier. We started along the railway line and then followed a cycle lane beside a spectacular coastline as we approached the town itself. It was a busy cycle lane and locals dressed for the office whizzed past us expertly. They had to, because we were those tourists… slow pedalling staring at the sea, an abundance of exotic palm trees as well as some dazzling examples of Art Deco architecture lit up by the gentle September sunshine… Wow!
We visited The Botanic Gardens at Samares Manor. As a keen amateur gardener it was fun to see plants here in the mild climate that would never grow in a million years in our cold, wet garden in Keswick. For a bit of context, the nearby Borrowdale valley is a designated temperate rainforest. Luckily for Andrew we were flying home, so I was prevented from trying my luck buying any plants. I do know from past experience that I can easily fit two good size plants in the stretchy side pockets of my Atom, but alas next time.
Later that day, Andrew surprised me with a destination. I didn’t know that there was a lido on Jersey. I’ve been swimming in Derwentwater for over 10 years now and it’s a huge part of my life, so I love to swim in new places wherever possible. Despite being created in 1895, many improvements to the facilities were made during its heyday in the 1920s, so to me it has echoes of this time and it is a visually stunning pool. The water was, of course, cold and refreshing. As an outsider, what I enjoyed most about this pool was how embedded this facility is for the locals. I was sitting near a group of older, pensioners one mid-morning and they were full of quips and banter with each other, I could tell that they met everyday. Later on at lunch time, very well dressed men and women in suits and shirts dashed in and out, obviously squeezing a quick dip into the office lunch hour. By the time the early evening arrived, the families appeared and parents were teaching their children how to swim in the pool. As I stuffed my wet swim shoes in my bullet net pocket to dry off and headed back on the bike, I couldn’t help smiling at the sense of community I’d witnessed on the island.
Later on during the holiday, we did tackle a few steeper inclines on the bikes, mostly around the coast as we often descended down to the sea to look at view points, such as the lighthouse of La Corbière. In those moments, I’ll admit to a few mutterings of discontent as another e-bike gently whirred past me. I huffed and puffed barely making any progress. Although what goes up always comes down and on the flip side we enjoyed some invigorating descents down picture perfect roads looking out to sea.
On our final day in Jersey, the weather was so nice, it was seriously difficult not to stay too late and miss the plane. At a beautiful cove on the St. Ouen’s coastline, we found perfect surf conditions. We didn’t have boards, but you can get a tiny bit of lift on a swimming tow float, so we spent a lot of time playing in the waves being silly idiots.
As we returned our bikes later that afternoon to catch the flight, we felt sorry to leave them behind and promised that we’d take another holiday on two wheels soon.
