dst. (km) Today 42.03 Trip total ?? Odometer 1119.5
I woke up this morning and couldn’t work out whether the clocks were right or not; I had no idea whether Jersey was in the same time zone as the UK or not!
I left the panniers in the B&B for the day and headed out on the bike. Riding into town after breakfast I was wobbling all over the place, its amazing how different the bike feels without the panniers on it, and how quickly you become accustomed to them. Chose to ride through the tunnel, twice, which I think was illegal, rather than go the long way around the point.
Yet another ferry ticket mystery. A one-way ticket to St. Malo is £28! I really can’t understand these pricing structures.
The Zoo—Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
[http://www.durrell.org/] – I’m not sure what I was expecting here, I’ve been a fan of the late Gerald Durrell since I was about 12 and first read one of his books. For years I’ve wanted to visit, and now that I’m finally here its all a little disappointing. The animal enclosures were excellent, the animals healthy, but it wasn’t easy to find your way around, the signs were all in a dozen different styles, frequently just photocopied sheets of paper. Without a guidebook it would be nearly impossible to find your way around.
Lemurs in Jersey zoo
Thinking that I was about to run out of film, and having left all my spare in the B&B, I bought a pack of three forty exposure films, then discovered that I was up to frame 24 of 40, not 24 of 25! As a result, I’ve now got enough film for 200 more shots! It’ll probably last me an eternity, since I tend to take very few photos.
The frogs cage was one of my favourites, with a number of beautiful individuals on display. I spent most of the day following the free guided tour, our guide was incredibly enthusiastic and almost overcome with laughter when the free-range marmosets started climbing all over her to get to the food. Apparently this was the first day that both species had been together in this area.
My lily-white feet on a Jersey beach
Eventually I felt I’d seen enough and left the zoo to meander around in the sun along the lane-ways of the north coast, then sat on a small rocky beach, gazing at France, feeling content and finally on holiday. Feeling much happier now that I was out in the warm weather and out of the UK, it just hadn’t been feeling like a holiday for a while there.
There were many other cyclists out on the roads during the afternoon, all sorts of bikes and all sorts of people.
Came home and lay down for a nap for a while, then walked in to St Helier to resolve my mounting money crisis. I’ve spent a scary amount today! Walked around the centre of town looking at menus but it was the bistro at the end of the local street that caught my eye, so when I got back I went in there and had a luxury meal, scallops in garlic sauce followed by a Seafood Tagliatelle. All excellently prepared, and in large quantities, as I waddled out the door, the platefull that I left looked as though I had hardly touched it.
Which reminded me of some of the other menus I had seen across the south of England:
“Chorizo sausages in Sweet’n’sour sauce with pasta” — seems an interesting mix of nationalities…. or
“Menu Español” — containing lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise, and fish & chips!
Where?
St Helier
