CYHA News

The Cream of Jersey

Another month passed, more exciting places visited. The Bank Holiday weekend was spent in the rural tranquillity of Rowen in North Wales (having passed through the birth place of the industrial revolution to get there). Lulled into a false sense of security, none were prepared for Hurricane Rowen which blew the hat off Helen's head and the glasses off Clive's face and had everyone else diving for cover! See Sue's article on the back page for details.

Mid-September saw 12 of us fly off to sample the delights of Jersey. No gales here but golden sunshine, rugged coastal scenery, huge cream teas - and possibly the largest meal this group has ever eaten. A highly suitable way to celebrate Dave J's birthday (39 again, he insists!).

Ali

The Spar Tour of St Helier

Arrived in Jersey and keen to see
The sights and sounds with happy glee.
But urgent growling from Dave's tum
Says the hour for dinner has almost come.
St Helier beckons, we've come so far.
What we need is a local Spar!

Tourist info, Liberation Square,
Rice and chicken for our evening fare.
Tales of battles and kings afar
And lo there is a local Spar.

Jersey Militia, Halkett Place,
Sandwich bags we must replace.
A corner turned and shout "Hurrah!"
We've found ourselves another Spar.

Island Parliament, markets grand,
One ham one cheese we had planned.
Dodging out around a car,
We found our third and final Spar!

There is a moral to this tale of towns,
Where corner shops can still be found.
Whilst Tescos is a useful store
Why shop once? do two or more.

Ali

Historic Mersea Island

Thanks to John, our chief historian, for leading us on a meticulously-researched circumnavigation of Mersea Island. Highlights included: bricks from a Roman mausoleum in the church tower ~ Britains oldest causeway ~ an artillery redoubt from the Third Anglo-Dutch War ~ Martello Tower from the Napoleonic wars ~ the church where Sabine Baring-Gould, novelist and composer of 'Onward Christian Soldiers', was rector ~ site where a Zeppelin crash landed in WWI ~ the ruins of WWII blockhouses ~ and the seafood festival for some slimey treats to finish the walk!

Dave P

20 Years in an Hour

Having completed my 20 years with CYHA (with time off for good behaviour), I was delighted that so many people joined us for the memorial slide show. Apologies for those wailing "slow down, slow down", but I had a tough job condensing the last 20 years of my life into an hour and had over 500 pics to get through. I hope it gave some idea of all the great things we've done over the years, and for those older members a reminder of the characters who've come and gone. Like a big family album.

There were some things omitted. For some reason I didn't take my camera when we were white water rafting, climbing or driving tanks……

Ali

New Arrival

Just thought anyone in CYHA who remembers us would like to know that we have an addition to our family. Sophie Durgan was born on 4th July at 21:12 and weighed 8lb 9oz (nearly 2lbs more than Rosie's birth weight!).

She was supposed to born at home but as she was rather large for me and I ended up in an ambulance with flashing lights and sirens being taken to Colchester General. Did manage it all on my own in the end and came home 3 hrs later! Sophie is a content and happy baby and her big sister Rosie thinks she's great.

Karen & Gareth.

North Wales ~ Land of Wind and Water

We celebrated our arrival in Ironbridge in time-honoured fashion. A visit to ye local hostelry for sustenance aided our recovery from the journey, and prepared us for next day's drive through Snowdonia. Here Dave J demonstrated innovative ways of improving pudding. The following day some explored Ironbridge's industrial history, whilst others pressed on to Wales as quickly as Bank Holiday roads would allow.

A brief tour of Conwy's medieval town walls was followed by a climb up to hills clothed in the purple and yellow of heathers and gorse. Beautiful to look at, but scratchy walking for those who had 'zipped off' to shorts in the warm sunshine. Warm enough for a few intrepid souls to take to the water on their return to Conwy.

Rowen hostel is a good way up a one in three hill. A rescue party was dispatched to aid George, whose car steadfastly refused to complete the assault on the summit. A few strong shoulders and some heavy wellie did the trick. Rowen was made even more welcoming by the fire blazing in the hearth each evening, and by the sing-song voices of the sheep, calling to their lambs. All day. And all night.

A pleasant breezy start to Sunday soon became a howling hurricane of near epic proportions. Well, so it seemed to those who were scrambling on the Glyders. Meanwhile, those of us who had opted for a gentler climb also found ourselves struggling to stay on our feet. My self-congratulation at safely climbing over a stile was short-lived. Two more steps and I was blown face down. Tom was bowled over - literally. We huddled in the welcome lee of a stone shelter to eat lunch. Here a small dog joined us, evidently blown clean over the wall to land on Dave P's head. The route back took in, much to our relief, two pubs. We were not quite so pleased to find that it also took in the one in three hill. Happily, the hill happened after the pubs, so that was alright.

The wind increased in strength during the night, and morning found one of our campers slumbering on the dining room floor, his tent having blown down the hill. Despite the murky drizzle a walk was decided upon. Traversing a lake, we paused at the memorial to Taliesin, the 6^th century Welsh bard. After an hour or so of dampness we were rewarded by the return of warm sunshine, just in time for lunch, where Dave J and Cressida enjoyed yet more culinary innovation in their pursuit of the perfect sandwich. The lakes were almost too much of a temptation, but lack of cozzies discouraged any above the knees encounters with the water.

Sue

Jersey ~ Seaside and Seafood

We all managed to meet on time at Gatwick despite the threat of blockades and panic driven petrol shortages for our short flight to Jersey.

Upon leaving the airport and picking up the hire cars (Focuses of course) we had our first encounter with Jersey's roads and St Helier's mad one way system .Our attempt at keeping a convoy to find a nice pub for lunch collapsed almost immediately and that afternoon was a bit of a disjointed affair as we tried to find each other. We also had to do some food shopping and having failed to locate any decent sized supermarkets this could only be accomplished through raiding a market and at least four different Spar mini-stores during the afternoon.

The hostel is in Gorey on the east coast of the island - the village has a delightful harbour overlooked by the magnificent Mt Orgueil castle - the scene was especially pretty at night as the castle was lit up and the scene was photographed extensively by us all!

Saturday saw us walking the scenic Northern coast a walk of 15 miles from the eastern to western corners of the island. As this was a linear walk we had to drop a car off at the end and one in the middle of the walk before returning to the start - although not too far in miles it took 1 and a half hours to do this! This was partly caused by the erratic nature of or non existence of the road signs on a road system that can't have changed since the 1930's which made navigation an interesting challenge. Helen though won the prize for mastering the roads the quickest and should really became a London cabbie to make use of such skills!

It was a lovely walk in warm sunshine along the rocky and undulating coastal path interspersed with pretty harbours where one was forced to take a break for tea, crab sandwiches, cream teas or a welcome pint of bitter. Some of the group did half the route and a car load the full walk. France could clearly be seen to the east as could Alderney and Guernsey and towards the end of the walk we were rewarded by a fine sunset.

Sunday saw Mike, Jim, Marion, Tom and I hiring bikes from St Helier to see some of the island on two wheels. Jersey is excellent for cycling with a good number of very quiet roads ideal for exploring the island. We cycled along the southern coast and half way up the western side. We took time out to see the Corbiere lighthouse and could not resist a swim in the inviting warm waters of the English Channel. We then headed off in to the interior of the island which was pretty and full of expensive looking properties.

That night as part celebration for my birthday we repaired to a restaurant on Gorey harbour for a four course meal. Very nice with food more exotic than the usual YHA fare such as oysters, fish soup, sea bass and pudding without custard, all washed down by the finest house wines!

On the Monday we had time only for a look round the castle at Gorey which was interesting and included a falconry demonstration and time for more arty harbour photos to be taken before we had to head back to the airport after a very enjoyable few days..

Dave J