Just a few dozen kilometres off the French coast, the Channel Islands, those regularly criticised havens of offshore finance, are, surprisingly, a wonderful paradise for walkers. Grand Angle recognised their appeal and has been offering walking holidays on these islands since the mid-nineties. Not quite English, and scarcely French any more except in their place names and a few quaint signs, they invite you to slow down and relax, with friendly, cosy places to stay and landscapes that are sometimes cultivated, sometimes wild. Victor Hugo, exiled first to Jersey and then to Guernsey, celebrated them in his work, “The Channel Archipelago”: In the Channel archipelago, the coast is wild almost everywhere. These islands have cheerful interiors, but their shores are rugged and forbidding.
Land donated by a certain Perrée to the National Trust for Jersey © François Ribard
Sark’s steep, wild coast and the Autelets rocks © François Ribard
Elsewhere, he writes of Guernsey: Fertile, rich, vigorous land. No pasture is better. The wheat is famous, the cows renowned (…) the sap works wonders; magnolias, myrtles, daphnes, oleanders, blue hydrangeas; the fuchsias grow extravagantly (…) Guernsey, graceful on one side, is fearsome on the other. The west, battered, faces the breath of the open sea. There lie the breakers, the squalls, the coves where boats are beached, the patched-up boats (…).
A Jersey calf, of the Jersey breed © François Ribard
They have been islands since the melting of the ice sheets formed during the last ice age caused a general rise in sea levels, gradually severing their land connection with Normandy. In a delightful nod to this geomorphological history, the Channel’s immense tidal range redraws the islands' outlines every six hours and has shaped human settlement and ways of life.
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They have been Anglo-Norman since 1204, when Philip Augustus took Normandy back from the King of England and Duke of Normandy, John Lackland. Overlooked in the treaties, the islands would remain loyal to the British Crown and King John, who, although “landless”, would therefore not be left “islandless”!
Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Herm, and Saint-Malo too!
Departure from Saint-Malo © François Ribard
The privateer city, where the holiday begins and ends, already puts us in an island mood as we set off for these three flowerpots in a pool of water, in Victor Hugo’s own words. All the islands have an extensive network of coastal trails, the famous cliff paths.
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More challenging than it might appear, yet still very accessible to novice walkers, the walking offers spectacular views as granite meets the infinite variations of colour that make up the Channel’s palette.
A fine example of these island walks awaits on the two stages along the north coast of Jersey, the largest island in the archipelago. Above the vast beach of Saint Ouen, which stretches for eight kilometres along almost the entire western coast of Jersey, we find ourselves on Grosnez heath, overlooked by the ruins of a fourteenth-century castle.
St Ouen’s Bay in Jersey © François Ribard
Grosnez Castle on the island of Jersey © François Ribard
In clear weather, it offers sweeping views of the Channel Islands, as far as Alderney, the most outlying of the Channel Islands and one of the few our walking route will not visit. At an elevation of eighty metres, the plateau turns east and becomes increasingly rugged as it approaches the broad beach at Grève de Lecq.
Grève de Lecq beach on the island of Jersey © François Ribard
The first flights of steps appear. They will be our constant companions on the walk to Bouley Bay, passing sheltered coves with evocative names such as Bonne Nuit Bay, and superb stretches with panoramic views where the cries of gulls ring out.
Bonne Nuit Bay harbour © François Ribard
What a contrast with the more populated south coast, along a gentler shoreline where a succession of coves feels like a string of small seaside towns with a very British charm. Here is lovely St Brelade’s Bay, halfway between La Corbière lighthouse, which marks the island’s south-western tip, and the vast St Aubin’s Bay, bounded by Elizabeth Castle. At the end of the sixteenth century, it replaced Mont Orgueil Castle, built on the east coast, as the centrepiece of the island’s defences. Now serving the peaceful purpose of a museum, it is one of the landmarks of St Helier, Jersey’s capital. From the harbour, just a short walk away, let us take the boat to St Peter Port,
Guernsey’s elegant capital, where Victor Hugo lived for fourteen years with his family, just a short walk from his companion, Juliette Drouet. The Victorian home Hauteville House, which Hugo decorated with the Romantic genius that inspired him, belongs to the City of Paris. Now a museum, it is an essential visit to appreciate the talent and extravagance of this towering figure of literature and interior design. Take time, too, to wander through St Peter Port’s maze of passageways and stairways. Beyond the shopping streets and luxury boutiques, the tranquillity of the wonderful Candie Gardens provides an ideal setting for discovering plants and enjoying a pause for a cup of tea.
H for Hugo in one of the rooms at Hauteville House © François Ribard
As for walking, we once again discover the charms of an enchanting cliff path. There are more than a few similarities between Jersey’s north coast and Guernsey’s south coast: rugged and wild, dotted with small coves and tiny harbours, and alive with the settings of Victor Hugo’s novel “Toilers of the Sea”. Alongside flights of steps that remind our calves just how high these granite islands rise above the waves, we encounter defensive towers at intervals. Known as Martello towers, they resemble Genoese towers and served to protect the island against French attacks during the American War of Independence.
Petit Bôt Bay on the south coast – Its café, beach and Martello tower © François Ribard
Other towers, these ones made of concrete and built by the Germans during the Second World War, serve as a reminder that the Channel Islands were the only part of the United Kingdom occupied by the Nazis, remaining so until 9 May 1945, the day after the surrender of the Reich’s armed forces. Yet the wild charm of this coastline remains intact, contrasting with the lower eastern and western shores, fringed by dunes and sandy spits that support a remarkable diversity of birds.
Lesser black-backed gulls © François Ribard
Paradise beaches will certainly feature on our excursion to Herm, a small island twenty minutes from Guernsey, with its famous Shell Beach and its countless tiny shells, said to have come from the Gulf of Mexico, carried here by some mysterious, poetic branch of the Gulf Stream.
Shell Beach, sheltered behind reefs that make navigation difficult © François Ribard
But there are other things to see on this pocket-sized island, where a walk becomes a delightful escape along flower-covered hills to the charming little harbour, just a stone’s throw from a doll’s-house village. For Herm’s few inhabitants, heading to Guernsey must surely feel like a trip to the mainland!
Between Guernsey and Herm, Bréhon Tower, a 19th-century defensive tower © François Ribard
Another island, another story. Although it belongs to the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Sark—Sercq in French—cherishes its distinct character. And what a difference: Sark is a granite plateau perched a hundred metres above the sea. There are beaches, yes, but reaching them involves some serious descents.
La Grande Grève beach on the island of Sark. In the background, Guernsey and St Peter Port. © François Ribard
And that is before we even mention the climbs back up! Yet Sark’s wonder and austere beauty lie in its rural atmosphere, set against the deep blue sea. There are no cars, but there are tractors, horse-drawn carriages for visitors, cyclists and, of course, walkers.
On Sark’s paths, with Herm’s Shell Beach in the background © François Ribard
Sark is a feudal state whose Seigneur inherits centuries-old rights, their foundations regularly challenged by contemporary lifestyles and society. Neither Norman nor truly English, Sark… is Sark, and it is the ultimate proof of the diversity of landscapes and cultures in the Channel Islands…
Boarding at Maseline Harbour on Sark © François Ribard
On these pieces of France cast into the sea and gathered up by England, as Victor Hugo described them, you do not necessarily walk on the left along the paths, but you do enjoy excellent facilities overseen by nature and environmental conservation organisations. They work actively to preserve a remarkable setting for escape, amid soothing, harmonious scenery.
A moment of creativity at low tide in Rozel Harbour, Jersey © François Ribard
Try walking in these endearing islands and you will soon discover that Great Britain has more than one trick up its sleeve… or, in this case, in its Channel!
Has this story inspired you to set off on this wonderful trip through the Channel Islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Sark and Herm? Find it here!
Text and photography © François Ribard, Grand Angle walking guide
