Nothing for it on a damp 1st January Sunday morning but to put my gear on and put in a few slow kms. I headed around to the north east and St Martin’s parish, parked up and headed off. As has become a habit, I declare my intention for the year by tackling a serious hill. In this case the two tracks leading up from Gorey Pier to Haut de la Garenne.

From there I plodded easily through the gloomy countryside (St Martin always seems gloomy, though pleasingly intriguing) following a roughly circular course and taking in the gentle morning, the nature and landmarks. Hope you like the pics.

Rewarding view for a bit of hill work, Mont Orgueil Castle
Victoria Tower (1837), Mont Nicholas
Dolmen or Anne Port?
La Pouquelaye de Faldouet, Neolithic passage grave, aligned with the solar equinox
Jersey have done a good job (in the main) of protecting our lovely countryside from development
Seemingly content, these Jerseys lead an unnatural and cruel short life, brutally ended when they are no longer profitable
Electricity switching station left behind by our German friends
Downtown Gorey Village
19C fishermen’s cottages
Gorey Village Railway Station, closed 1929

Back to Longbeach car park 9.6km later, just as the rain began in earnest. Delighted to bump into Hannah Bechelet, a fellow runner and former Jersey resident now working as a TV presenter in Birmingham, back in the Island for the holidays with her husband and young twin boys.

I think the quiet months of January and February will find me doing a bit more rediscovery of our lovely part of the world at a suitably slow pace.