Devil's Hole is a natural crater in the otherwise solid rocks, caused by the sea eroding the roof of what was once a cave until it collapsed and created the crater 200 ft deep. It received its current name only when in 1851 a ship was wrecked nearby. The waves tossed the ship's figurehead inside the blowhole, where it was found when people were trying to rescue (or at least find the body of) one of the ship's crew who had tried to swim ashore in order to get help. The man was never seen again, but when the figurehead turned up, it was thought to be the devil's work.
A sculptor created a statue out of the figurehead, which was originally placed at the top of the hole as an early tourist attraction. Over the years, several replicas were made, and the statue was moved uphill, where it now stands in the middle of a pond, seemingly contemplating the still, green, quiet, dimly lit clearing in the woods.
He does not look very scary, does he? The little ducklings didn't seem to think so - they walked across the water on the plants growing in the pond, swimming where the green was less thick, always under their mother's watchful eyes. I'm afraid you can't really see them in the picture, but they were there.
You can't really look into the hole, but you can hear the water rushing in and out with each wave. The closest you can get without climbing over the fence (which is there for a good reason!) is this:
The other picture was taken by O.K. and shows Devil's Hole from a distance. The dent in the landscape is the crater.
We sat on a bench in the sun there for a while before taking up our walk again, now to Sorel Point.
What an unusual pattern of criss-crossing paths! Who made them? See the next picture :-)
Again, Sorel Point. This is one of O.K. pictures. The rocks really are that pink.
Standing just above Sorel Point... trying to make out the coast of France (Normandy), which is really not that far away. But it was too hazy above the water to spot it, or any of the other Channel Islands, as we had been told to expect. Never mind - it would have been nice to have a clearer view, but we enjoyed our walk anyway.
The tiny lighthouse is really just a huge lamp inside a protective concrete housing, no room there for a lighthouse keeper to live. It was built in 1938 and is still in use.
Sorel Point was also the turning point of our walk. We knew that we'd be able to get a bus only from the Priory Inn at the top of the path to Devil's Hole, but we didn't head straight back as we were not in a hurry to end this, our last walk here, so soon.
Instead, we took a little detour, which I will show you in my next post.
The sculpture in the wood leads my thoughts straight to Mr Tumnus (the faun in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis)... :) Just hope you did not also run into the White Witch!
ReplyDeleteMr. Tunis was my first thought, too! Great minds!
DeleteMr. Tunis? :-)
DeleteMr. Tumnus is not one I imagine so muscular, but to me, too, the sculpture looks a lot more like a faun than a devil. No White Witch to be seen, but then of course we didn't arrive by wardrobe, just very banally by bus :-)
I think you and O.K. really did a thorough walking tour of Jersey. Or at least the edges of it, perhaps the most beautiful parts. The statue makes me think of the Great God Pan.
ReplyDeleteThe Great God Pan was my SECOND thought. Holy cow, I'm somehow getting crazy synchronicity with Meike's other followers!
DeleteOur cliff path walks were all on the north coast of Jersey. The south has more sandy beaches, the island is like one gentle slope downwards from north to south.
DeletePan needs a flute, doesn't he?
What an incredible place. So beautiful and wild!
ReplyDeleteIt was like an enchanted forest, that bit with the pond.
DeleteI am very interested in your posts. We did go to Jersey to visit friends once, and took some lovely walks - and I also did an article there - but never did I see any of these places. I am starting to think it needs to join the long list of places I want to return to.
ReplyDeleteJersey seems so small, and yet there are enough places there to last for much more than the one week we had there!
DeleteI'd like to read your article, is it online anywhere?
That's the thing about beautiful seaside places - there is tragedy that comes from crashing ships and drowning sailors. We don't always think about it, but there are usually reminders.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the people who have been living there - sometimes for many generations - are very much aware of the sad aspects. Often, they are involved in lifeboat teams etc.
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