{"id":8549,"date":"2026-05-15T12:22:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/?p=8549"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:24:34","slug":"channel-island-adventures-and-chaos-part-i-jersey-may-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/?p=8549","title":{"rendered":"Channel Island adventures and chaos – Part I Jersey, May 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

* * * * * Prologue * * * * *<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trip started out as a “special” re-union. The Magnificent seven (class of 1978 \/ 1979), Ermysteds grammar school, all hit 65 years of age, a few months either side of 2026. Someone suggested that we head further afield than the usual gathering in one of our current towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans escalated rapidly, Jersey was the chosen destination and someone found the nicest hotel on the Island – the 5-star Grand Jersey Resort and Spa in St Helier…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might ask what relevance this has to Caravan Ramblings. Well, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore other Islands such as Guernsey and Sark. What better way than to book a campsite on Guernsey for a couple of weeks and use it as a base. Moe would entertain our daughter on Guernsey whilst Joe had booked a return flight from Guernsey to Jersey for the re-union. We would then continue our break on Guernsey in the Campervan and also add a trip to Sark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could go wrong… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, very little went right. Firstly the Northern contingent had their Easyjet Tuesday flight to Jersey cancelled and had to travel Monday and stay an extra day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, two weeks before arrival, the hotel tried to move several of us to their sister hotel on the other side of the island, including myself. I was livid but they were quite adamant no room was available. I refused to accept a move and told them to provide the room I had booked a year in advance or cancel and kick me out. They didn’t want to do that and after a week of emails and phone calls, we were finally assured we had our allocated rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With everything in place and 24 hours prior to our Sunday lunchtime departure, on the Poole to St Peters port ferry, we received a call from Brittany Ferries. Our sailing was cancelled!! It would now be operating on Tuesday. Nor could BF transfer us to the Portsmouth route because the reservation systems were down – a fire caused seven days of downtime for the old Condor Ferries website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no possibility of getting the campervan to Guernsey, we frantically sought alternative options. Moe and Suzy were despatched on a Sunday morning Auringy flight to Guernsey and I found a flight to Jersey the following day (Monday). The campsite swapped our campervan reservation for a cabin and more flights and hotels were booked for the return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Northern contingent arrive at their departure gate to find it closed. No surprises that they had stayed in the airport bar a little too long! Fortunately, Easyjet re-opened the gate allowing embarcation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At great expense, and for us, minus the campervan, everything slotted into place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a quick summary of this multi-tiered trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * * * Jersey and the Grand Hotel * * * * *<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel lived up to expectations and it was great to meet up with the rest of the Magnificent seven. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Drinks at the Grand Jersey, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
View from Room 301, Grand Jersey Hotel, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
View from Room 301, Grand Jersey Hotel, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Walks into St Aubin and long the coast from Gorey to St Catherine’s beach. Plus a 25 mile cycle ride to the North West beach at Plemont. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four of us set off on bikes, two with ebikes. The weather was cold, part wet and brutally windy. A rather unpleasant day for a cycle ride.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven bike tour, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven bike tour, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven bike tour, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven bike tour, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven at 65ish, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven at 65ish, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our excursions were rewarded with copious amounts of beer as we celebrated retirement. Although most have been retired for some time!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven at 65ish, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
The Magnificent seven at 65ish, Jersey, May 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* * * * * Prologue * * * * * This trip started out as a “special” re-union. The Magnificent seven (class of 1978 \/ 1979), Ermysteds grammar school, all hit 65 years of age, a few months either side of 2026. Someone suggested that we head further afield than the usual gathering in … Continue reading Channel Island adventures and chaos – Part I Jersey, May 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-stays-2026-united-kingdom","category-2026-united-kingdom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8549"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8628,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions\/8628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caravanramblings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}