We kicked off the day with a visit to La Hougue Bie, a Neolithic burial mound, or technically a passage grave. I’ll let you research the difference.
La Hougue Bie claims to be one of the 10 oldest buildings in the world, having been built (?) approx 4000 BC. Its passage was built to align with the rising sun at spring and summer equinox. We didn’t check the alignment.
You can go into the tunnel, which runs about 25 metres into the mound, but the roof is only about 1.2m high and it looked too claustrophobic for me.
A 16th–century chapel has been built on top of the prehistoric mound. It’s a fairly basic little stone building, but has great views.
There is a little museum on site too that details, and displays, a hoard of coins and jewellery found nearby. The coins all predate the Romans.
The rest of the day was dedicated to a drive around the island. There are a lot of roads in a small space here, the island is only about 15 kms long and 8 kms wide but it’d take a week to drive every road.
Great scenery. Lovely drive. Not a sign of a Jersey cow though. It’s picture is plastered over everything, but maybe there are none left?
On our way we discovered any number of German bunkers. I guess when you build something to withstand a pounding from artillery then it’ll last in the environment.
We had a bit of a wander around the centre of the capital, Saint Helier, before dropping the car back. This hasn’t got quite the same appeal as a Saint Malo or a Bordeaux, but it’s quite nice regardless.
And that’s pretty much the end of Jersey.
Stephen and Michelle
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