Summer standstill

I had high hopes of bringing to you the joys of summer solstice in Jersey, vibrant sunrise, a long lazy summer day of dappled sunlight, topped by a glorious sunset. But alas not.On Thursday evening we headed to St Ouens to watch the sunset, but were met with fog and mist and no sun in view. On solstice morning we planned to go to the Dolman de Faldouet to watch the sunrise, but with low cloud and heavy rain at 4.20am I decided I'd rather greet the dawn from the warmth of my bed.And so instead I'll share with you one morning from last week. I woke early as the gentle dawn light suffused my bedroom window and, realising I still had time, I jumped out of bed and into some warm clothes, grabbed my camera and car keys and headed east.I made it along the coast road to La Hocq just seconds before the dawning of the new day.It's amazing just how quickly the sun does come up!

The sun rays were very strong and soon turned the sand and rocks on the beach to bright gold

and they seemed to followed me as I walked east along the beach

I came across a snail nursery

and enjoyed the colours of the sea thrift and lichen against the granite boulders at the high tide mark.

I played shadowland games with my exceptionally tall shadow

and took great pleasure in sitting still and drinking in the views, looking further east towards La Rocque Harbour and out to Seymour Tower

and back to Le Hocq tower looking glorious bathed in the early morning light

and out over the lunar landscape to Icho Tower.

Le Hocq is a real community area, it's closely tied with St Clements Church who often come here for outdoor services and they recently added a sculpture of an anchor and cross.

The area is used a lot in the summer with pleasure boaters.

To the west of the tower is the Millenium cross, one of 12 for each of the parishes, and a pétanque court which is well used in the summer evenings.

So solstice may have been a wash out, but Jersey certainly delivers most of the time. Happy solstice.