St Helier; Sunday, 03 August, 2003

Sunday is not a good day to try and visit remote parts of the island as even during summer the busses are less regular. In the morning I decided to visit the Elizabeth castle. This was the main defense for St Hellier, but is actually situated 1 mile off the coast. During low tide a causeway links you to the mainland but a high tide you have to get a DWUK (Part boat part 4x4) over to the castle slipway.

The castle itself is well preserved having served the town from the early days right up until it was finally vacated by the Germans at the end of WWII. The site is well signed with lots of information and three museums located in various parts of the barracks.

After the castle I came back into town and caught the land train along the coast to St Aubins. The train runs along the original route of the Islands main railway that closed in the early 1930s. The driver gives an interesting and informative commentary on the history of the area, the coast and Jersey in general.

After returning to St Hellier I caught the bus out to the Jersey War Tunnels. These were built originally to be a hospital for German soldiers during the war but served very little role as they were completed close to the end of the war. Having said that they did come at the cost of many hundreds if not thousands of lives of those, usually slave laborer's, forced to construct it. The tunnels now tell the story of the islands occupation from the build up to War in the early days of the 1930s through war and occupation to the eventual liberation of the islands in 1945. Outside the tunnels the site also includes a garden of reflection in which bare facts of the human cost of war are outlined.