It was my last chance of an ‘easy’ long run ahead of the CCM in four weeks time. Instead of the growing torture of the Railway Walk I headed north on this the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Jersey from Nazi occupation. Heading up Westmount Road I was, as usual, looking everywhere except where I was going. Over to the left is Overdale Hospital but I was more interested in recollecting that Alderney won their one and only Muratti Cup on the football pitch that used to be there, many years ago. A few yards further on is the Crematorium and, within the grounds, a memorial to the slave workers who toiled and often died under the Germans during the war. It served me right when I went over painfully on my ankle on the kerb at that point. Painful though it was it was never going to be a game-breaker and I managed to hobble on and ran it off within a few minutes.
Settling down after the uphill and injury-stricken start I headed up towards St John taking the left before Hautes Croix into Les Chenolles. It was there that I realised what a profusion of hedgerow flowers are around at the moment. Add to these the further colours of the flowers growing in the gardens of the many posh properties out here in the country. Being a townie I can’t name a single one of them. Nevertheless I feel sorry for those that can’t spare the time to appreciate the simpler pleasures of life.
Turning left onto the St Lawrence Main Road you take your life in your hands, but that was solved as I needed to find some miles and I hung a right at St John’s Manor and took the quiet roads to circle back to the main road at Carrefour Selous. Here until quite recently there stood the great old Carrefour Selous pub. Now it is a private house and I hope fervently that the owners periodically suffer from a maddening thirst and have to travel several miles from there to slake it.
Across the road and along towards Hamptonne but, glancing at the Garmin, I need to extend the run again to get a full 12 miles in. So I loop right and back across the main road into Mont Sorsoleil. Turning right down a ‘green lane’ there is a surprise, which is always likely in Jersey. It is a ‘no entry except for access’ and soon I see why. Trotting past the big house the lane narrows to no more than a couple of feet wide and it snakes around the back of the property so that one feels like a trespasser. But you pop out into the lanes again to go past an old parish ‘pompe’ before emerging once more at Carrefour Selous.
Once more across the main road and this time headed for home. Past Hamptonne, one of the jewels in the crown of the Island’s heritage, sadly closed right now for economic reasons. Down the quiet and familiar Waterworks Valley still admiring the wildlife. Onto the inner road and back through St Andrew’s Park. 12.7 miles in 2:08, about 10.08m/m and as relaxing and enjoyable a run as you can imagine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment