Today marked the start of what I have recently being referring to as “the mad plan”. So, the mad plan came about as a result of my distinct lack of visited lighthouses in both the Channel Islands (outside of Guernsey, which I visited in 2013) and Shetland. I am working on a list of lighthouses in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands to be published – a sort of travel companion, if you will, to help others who struggle (as I did in 2011/12) to pull together a physical list to help them on their bagging escapades. It’s been – and still is at times – a real challenge, but one I am thoroughly enjoying.

Anyway, this lack of pictures was a problem and the solution was to get some, of course. Which resulted in two trips within one week to the most southerly lighthouses on Jersey and the most northerly in Shetland.

Well, today we flew to Jersey (at this point I should thank Bob’s mum for very kindly enabling this trip to be child-free for us). We arrived, having spotted the 1874 La Corbiere lighthouse on the approach to the airport. It looked so incredibly tempting (and the causeway across to it also looked uncovered a few hours before low tide) that we decided to make it our first stop after picking up the hire car.

The first thing that is wonderful when you visit the lighthouse at Corbiere is your first view of it. It just suddenly appears at the end of the road in front of you, in a magical sort of way. That’s definitely not the only thing magical about it. The way it sits up high on its rock, the excitement of getting to it at low tide only, the wonderful brick-effect painted white, the almost fairytale steps that lead up to the tower… the list really is endless. The stroll to the lighthouse is easy thanks to the excellent causeway and there are countless places to stop on the way over to take pictures. We were already aware that the tours that operate at the lighthouse are currently not running due to maintenance, so we were unlucky in that way. It was absolutely worth visiting anyway though. As I write this I am sitting at Corbiere Phare drinking wine and watching the light flashing. There’s a French light in the distance too. Not my area of expertise so I wouldn’t know which one it is.

We eventually dragged ourselves away from Corbiere, partly because we needed lunch and partly because we saw the opportunity to get to the Noirmont Point light before the tide started to rise. I also took a moment to look at the sculpture next to the car park, which features two hands holding each other, as if one is saving the other. There is a really interesting story behind it. When the French boat Saint-Malo ended up in trouble not far off of Corbiere in 1995, the lifeboat crew was deployed and saved all of the catamaran’s crew. The sculpture was installed in 1997 as a thank you to those who were involved in the rescue mission.

Onwards we went to Noirmont Point, which was windy! I feel the need to say that first because it really was! Like all of the lighthouses on Jersey there is a nearby car park, which is a massive help. We quickly found the route down to the lighthouse, which was pretty easy, but would be very different in wet conditions. I almost got blown away a few times, but not quite thankfully. It would have been much easier going without the wind, but we made it across and without getting our feet wet. The lighthouse was originally a Martello tower, which has had a light placed on top. Anyway, it was a beautiful view with the big tower on its rocks getting ever closer. Slightly less magical than Corbiere, but no less enjoyable to visit in terms of views. If it was windy on the approach it was even more so at the lighthouse. I had been warned by my lighthouse pal John to look out for the outside toilet, which just happened to be at the windiest part. The only way I can describe it is to say that it looks like a big stone throne with some sort of china bowl in the “opening”! The views all around the lighthouse were beautiful, but I was glad to have my handrail (sorry, I mean husband) there at some of the most exposed parts! The walk back up was much easier.

On to our third lighthouse: Grosnez Point at the most north westerly point of Jersey. Again parking was no problem and we used my well-researched directions and headed through the old Grosnez Castle ruins. Beyond the ruins there are some steps and an actual handrail (not Bob this time) that takes you down to the lighthouse. It was windy here too, but having something sturdy to cling on to was nice. It’s a very small lighthouse surrounded by a metal fenced enclosure, so nothing as impressive as the previous two, but the surrounding area was impressive with great cliffs and a distant view across to Sorel Point, our final lighthouse destination for the day.

Sorel Point, in comparison to the other lights we’d seen that day, was quiet. We saw one other car while we were there. At the other lights there were a number of people about (getting in the way of our pictures), although mainly around the car parks. Here it was just us. Sorel Point is an interesting light. A little like Fife Ness, it doesn’t make a fuss about being there. It’s pretty well obscured until you are at it and you’d probably not think to go there unless you are a bit of a fan of lighthouses. It’s a squat tower, which makes viewing the lamp room considerably easier from outside. I liked this one. I liked how understated it was. It also has CCTV – I’m sure I’ve read something about damage being done to it in the past. It’s such a shame.

So that was our lighthouse adventures today. I have also found today particularly useful for testing my descriptions of how to reach the lights on Jersey, which will be included in my book. It’s been good and I’m feeling quite confident that my instructions are fine and I’m just making a few small adjustments where necessary.

We finished our bagging day with Bob reaching the highest point of Jersey. So success all round. As mentioned before, we had dinner at Corbiere Phares this evening. It’s almost a little Corbiere Lighthouse museum, with an array of pictures hung on the walls from various stages of the lighthouse’s history. It includes a picture of Peter Edwin Larbalestier, the assistant keeper who went to save someone who was going to be cut off by the tide in 1946 and lost his life. It’s fascinating to see it in the early years when the causeway was essentially a bridge.

Having only done half of the island there is, of course, more to come tomorrow! 🙂