A short trip (most of the way) across Lé Ch’na – Jersey, July 2023
By Adan Scotney
“Mountaineering? What’s that?”
Investigating the climbing of the Channel Islands has been on my to-do list for quite a while – it looked good, but there is surprisingly little information about it. There is now an up-to-date guidebook for Jersey, which contains over 1000 routes many of which are given multiple stars. And so it was that, David, Aston and I found ourselves driving down the A3 at 5am on a Saturday morning to catch the car ferry from Poole.
The trip over was quite civilised, 4 hours on Condor Liberation (which has an onboard cafe selling surprisingly good value breakfasts). Compared to many other places we frequent, 6 hours of travelling isn’t so bad. Upon arrival it was tipping down so we weren’t too worried about being the last car to get off! We checked in at the campsite, then headed off to investigate the crags for tomorrow when drier weather was forecast.
We camped at JAAC on the eastern side of the island, near Gorey. The facilities were good (they even have a sauna, although it was closed at the time) and the walk down to the village for dinner was short. Unfortunately all the climbing is on the opposite side of the island – do not be fooled by its small size, driving is surprisingly hard work!
The following morning we stopped off in St Helier so David could buy some shoes from a well-known outdoor retailer (the manager of which seemed rather confused – “Mountaineering? What’s that?”) then proceeded to The Dangle Dell. There was still rain floating around, but we managed to climb a few of the starred routes which were very good – although the name “Gentle Retainer” may be considered misleading by some!
The granite climbing is similar to Cornwall, with many grippy, rounded jugs and is of no lesser quality. While there, we bumped into a handful of people from the Jersey climbing club, one of whom enthusiastically showed us around the nearby climbs and gave some recommendations.
The following day we finally had some sun, however the tides were against us, so we went to La Nethe Falaise where we climbed the classic 3-pitch severe “The Anvil”, each leading a pitch. A very nice climb, with several exciting traverses. After lunch, we walked over to the edge of La Prison for a few smaller climbs – I’m pleased to report we managed to escape at the end of the day in time to eat fish and chips on the beach!
Tuesday was a bit of a wash out, so we explored Beauport and Sorel Point (as well as a cafe), of which seem to have plenty of interesting-looking climbs for a future trip.
All things considered, a good trip in spite of the weather and definitely worth a return visit. Access is generally very easy, many crags are non-tidal, and there are few climbers (even fewer visiting climbers) on the island so there is no risk of queueing for routes. There are plenty of routes at all grades – long and short – I think enough to keep anybody busy for at least a couple of weeks. never managed to get on Perihelion, apparently the best climb on the island so I’ll definitely have t go back. Maybe another trip next year? Possibly with a stop off at Guernsey along the way…