JERSEY: THE CHANNEL ISLAND WAY: 1: An invitation

OR:   WHY ME?…

DISCLAIMER:   THIS TRIP WAS FUNDED ENTIRELY BY JERSEY TOURISM; ALL I HAD TO DO WAS FIND MY OWN WAY TO GATWICK AIRPORT AND THEN I WAS IN THEIR HANDS. HOWEVER, MY TAKE ON THE TRIP IS ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT, AS FAR AS THAT IS POSSIBLE AFTER HAVING HAD A PRETTY FINE TIME!

(ALL PICTURES & MAPS ARE CLICKABLE IN THE CHANNEL ISLAND WAY SERIES)

So, with the disclaimer out of the way, off we go!

Out of the blue, a few months back I received an email inviting me to Jersey to walk a little of the Channel Island Way. How I deserved this amazing stroke of good fortune is anybody’s guess but having assumed that they had already made a dreadful mistake and had picked the wrong Alan Sloman, I was loathe to disappoint them further and make them renew their search for the right man. And so with the speed of a rifling bullet I accepted their kind invitation before they would realise their drastic error.

I was intrigued about the venture. Who in their right mind would want a chap to stay in flashy hotels, dining out at great restaurants, who was to be flown about over great oceans and generally shown a jolly good time? Not only that, but they would be picking up the bill? Was Jersey that terrible a place that they had to persuade me to say nice things about it? And who on earth was going to take *MY* word for it, anyway?

I suppose, like a lot of the congregation, up until this point I had never heard of the Channel Island Way. Indeed, to my shame, I had only the merest flimsy idea of where Jersey was to be found; perhaps somewhere down below Cornwall alongside France?

But, by asking around, people I knew and by doing a bit of ‘Googling,’ I learned that the Channel Islands were thought of very fondly by those who’s views I trust; they had that winsome stare and the soft note in their voices as they recounted tales of happy summer breaks seemingly a long time ago…

Well then… it sounded like the dream job and so I was pretty damn smug that I had been the ‘chosen one’ and had accepted with such alacrity. As it happened though, they had picked another blogger to come along as well – a proper blogger with a good-looking blog, who wrote intelligently about stuff and had a young family and who took great pictures and, well, if we are being honest about all this, someone who was going to put my feeble efforts to shame. Oh Lord! No pressure then…

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before diving into my time on the island, in true ‘softening up’ style, I am going to show you the little film clip below to give you a taster of what is to come.

Lifted from Jersey.com’s website. (I’m sure they won’t mind)

I promise I won’t be trying to sell you a time-share at the end of all this! Trust me. I’m a blogger. Now, if you could all move on to the next post, I would be grateful as someone else will be along in a minute to take your place here. I thank you…