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About Jersey
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| Walk 9 - Phare Far Away |
A walk with stunning views from Corbiere Point and coastal paths. Mainly on tracks and footpaths, this is an ideal late afternoon walk to enjoy the setting sun over a refreshing drink.
Attractions
Corbiere
Refreshment Stops
Pubs: The Corbiere Phare (Free House),
The Pulente (Randall's)
Bus Routes
Bus No's 12 & 12a
Start at The Corbiere Phare where hand-pumped real ales and restaurant quality food can be enjoyed alfresco overlooking the lighthouse. Built in 1874, the first one in concrete, the light shines 17 miles (27 kms). "Wreckers" would light lanterns on the cliff-tops around here to entice unwary sailors onto the Jailer's Rocks or the Frouquie, the twin-pointed rock just to the north, which the ferry St Malo struck in April 1995. A commemorative sculpture by Derek Tristram is on the headland below.
Locate the start of the Corbiere Walk by the old railway station (closed 1936). The giant piece of granite is called 'La Table des Marthes', reputed to have been where contracts were sealed in medieval times.
Walk along to the first crossing and turn left. Follow the footpath down the hill through the gorse to Petit Port. Turn right along the main road and follow the marked footpath to the left towards St Ouen. Walk around the slipway and up the wooden steps, to join the footpath round L'Oeillere headland.
St Ouen's Bay, known as the Five Mile Road (the Jersey French name for a sand-dune is Mielle) stretches out to the north, with the late 18th century La Rocco tower the central feature. Notice the bunkers and the anti-tank walls around the bay, part of the massive defensive installations ordered by Berlin in 1941.
The firm sand is an ideal surface for motor racing in the summer and the Atlantic swell provides for excellent surfing. Notice the long slipway or Charriere used by farmers when gathering vraic (seaweed) in the autumn to fertilise the potato fields.
The Pulente Inn is superbly located at the end of the bay, offering a selection of ales, and high quality food. There is an upstairs restaurant with views of the bay, and plenty of tables outside.
Continue by returning to the headland track, and turn up the steep steps to the top of the headland. Turn left at the crossing and look for La Sergente passage grave, a dolmen from stone-age times.
Return to the crossing and continue down the hill to the north. Turn left along at the bottom of the hill, then left again to follow and then cross the stream. Turn left up the main road for a short distance, then first right between the bungalows.
This lane leads to the Corbiere Walk. Turn left, cross two main roads and look out for the granite sign to Le Beau Port and Mont des Croix. Red squirrels can often be seen here. They are beginning to re-appear after losing much of their habitat in the devastating hurricane of October 1987 when thousands of trees were lost.
Turn right towards Le Beau Port and walk through the housing estate. Cross the main road into the Les Creux Millennium Park.
Turn right by the Bowls Club down the track marked to St Brelade's Bay and Le Beau Port. A Green Lizard may be seen sunbathing on a rock around here! There are also more examples of sculptor Derek Tristram's work on the headland.
Now take the cliff path towards the west, keeping the sea on the left. All the rocks and bays have names, from La Grosse Tete at the edge of Beau Port bay, Les Caines reef close inshore, and the rock-strewn Fiquet Bay. Much of the granite used in 18th and 19th century defences was quarried along this part of the coast.
The unmistakable prison compound now looms up, known locally as the La Moye Hilton. Follow the footpath signs past the prison and back onto the headland, leaving the meteorological weather station close on the left-hand side. The track leads through Gorselands Nature Reserve, where stonechat, linnet and Dartford warbler are winter visitors and a variety of heath-land wild flowers can be seen.
Take the next metalled road back inland, then cross over the main road to rejoin the Corbiere Walk. Turn left and return to Corbiere Point and The Phare for a well-earned drink! The fields on either side of the track are often filled with crows and magpies - the name Corbiere derives from the French Corbeau (crow).
Glossary:
Frouquie
Oeillere
St Ouen
Pulente
Sergente
Les Caines
Fiquet
PTGH wish to thank Jersey Tourism for their help in providing the above information. 22/11/05
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