Spring-Summer Pure Jersey Part 1 with adverts:jersey Cover AW

The Car-Free
Challenge
GRÈVE DE LECQ
SEE THE ISLAND BY BUS ST AUBIN ST BRELADE’S BAY
How easy is it to get around Jersey the by bus? Roger Thomas, whose previous
experiences of public transport left him lukewarm to the idea, finds out.
They mightn’t go down Jersey’s
specially designated ‘Green Lanes’ –
those narrow country roads where
traffic is discouraged and walkers and
cyclists are welcomed – but the island’s
‘green’ transport network gets you just
about everywhere else. I’m talking about
the pale-blue (should that be green?)
Connex buses you see everywhere in
Jersey. And I mean everywhere.
It came as something of a culture shock. I
live in a part of the UK where buses are so
rare they’re on the endangered species list
and trains are about as reliable as a
politician’s promise. Then, on my first visit
to the island, I took a drive out to the
island’s rugged north coast, a peaceful area
lightly populated by scattered hamlets and
small villages. To my amazement I saw at
least five buses before giving up the count.
They obviously work well for the locals. But
are they a feasible way of getting around the
island for visitors? Do they take you to
where you want to go? And do you still need
a car? I decided to road test the system.
10.15am, St Helier
I buy an Island Explorer unlimited travel day
ticket and set off on the ‘blue’ route. A
quick word of explanation is needed here.
Jersey is latticed with bus routes. The
Island Explorer scheme, aimed at visitors,
rationalises most of them into four
interconnecting services designated blue,
red, yellow and green. These also link up
with more local, ‘off-piste’ routes to
obscure nooks and crannies, giving –
theoretically – impressive pan-island
coverage. I’m about to find out how it all
works on the ground – or rather in the bus.
There’s not a seat to be found on the bus as
we drive west along St Aubin’s Bay then up
over the wooded headland to St Brelade’s
Bay, a smaller version of St Aubin’s. The
sands at sheltered, south-facing St
Brelade’s curl round in a delicious crescent
and I can’t resist a walk on the beach. So I
hop off the bus and do just that, followed
by a cappuccino on the terrace of a beach
café in the morning sun.
11.34am, St Brelade’s Bay
Here’s the next bus, right on time. This is
already turning into a grand sightseeing
tour of Jersey’s iconic sites as the bus does
a little loop of the Corbière peninsula taking
in the famous lighthouse (and, as if stagemanaged
by Jersey Tourism, some caramelcoloured
Jersey cows munching
contentedly in the fields), before running
alongside St Ouen’s Bay. As we drive along
its vast, west-facing beach I have
grandstand views of dunes to my right and
kitesurfers skipping over the waves to my
left. Some passengers get off at Jersey
Pearl, a popular out-of-town shopping
destination. I stay on board until we reach
Grève de Lecq on the north coast. I’ve an
hour to wait for the next bus, and I can’t
think of a better place on the island in
which to while away 60 minutes.
Grève de Lecq is impossibly pretty. It ticks
all the seaside boxes for me – a quayside,
rich red sands, swooping green headland,
more of those delightful Jersey beach cafés
and – as a bonus for all classic machinery
freaks (me included) – a collection of
ancient tractors in various shades of rust
and red, still going strong hauling fishing
boats off the beach.
There’s another bonus too. By accident I’ve
stumbled across a refreshment stop for the
annual around-island charity walk that
started in St Helier at 3am. It’s 48 miles in
total and Grève de Lecq is just over halfway.
‘My knees are starting to play up and I’ve
got a few blisters,’ says one remarkably
upbeat participant. Like the rest, she was
determined to make the finish at 8pm.
1.17pm, Grève de Lecq
Confusion and commotion! The timetable
isn’t that difficult to fathom but the arrival
of a few buses close together has sent
some Island Explorers into a spin. Our bus
driver cheerily reassures worried
passengers. ‘Would anyone else like me to
plan their holiday?’ he asks with a grin. ‘I
thought you’d have this all worked out
before you got on the bus.’
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