Guernsey Walker
Guernsey offers a variety of excellent walks, with wonderful varied scenery and views. From the granite of the impressive south and east coast cliffs, to that of the rocky west coast, the sandy north, and the more industrialised north-east with views across to the other islands, there is plenty of variety of fine scenery. Inland there is also excellent walking, such as the walk around our St Saviours reservoir, as well as many quiet and picturesque country lanes.
The menu links from this page give access to a collection of short but interesting 'Round the Island walks', 'Inland walks', and a 'Saumarez Park Tree Walk', all of which start from accessible car parks, and most from convenient bus stops. Public car parks in Guernsey are free of charge (except at the airport) but many are time controlled, where you will need to set your arrival time on a "parking clock" which can be obtained at a nominal cost from the Tourist Office or most of the island garages.
A number of local people provide excellent guided walks. These can be found from internet and other publicity as well as from our Tourist Office. If you like walking in a group with a friendly guide providing lots of local information then these are for you. My walks here are for those who prefer doing their own thing and exploring in their own way, or have maybe done one or more of the guided walks and want to try something different. I'm offering some guidance in route finding which, in a short holiday, should point you towards some of the more interesting routes.
In what follows, nearly all of the walking is straightforward, and along well established paths and roads. The cliff paths of course have gradients and often passages of steps. I may occasionally draw attention to (optional) passages which require a bit more agility. The other lower level areas around the coast are often suitable for push chairs, bicycles etc. Indeed there are good cycling paths along the west coast from Grandes Rocques northwards, and along the east coast from St Peter Port to St Sampsons. However in all cases I must stress that if you do any of the walks described here then this is entirely at your own risk, and I can accept no responsibility whatsoever for any accidents or problems.
I've quoted approximate times for the walks, but these should be treated as a very rough guide only, and are probably minimums. They are timed at what is for me a fairly brisk walk, not a stroll, though if you're the right side of 40 you may be able to do them faster! On the other hand I have not allowed anything for standing or sitting to absorb views, optional detours, viewing historical monuments or taking refreshments. (Where I've called a detour "optional" it is not included in the timings.)
Where I've quoted road names these can be found in "Perry's Guide", which is readily available locally and which would be a useful accompaniment to at least some of these walks, though it doesn't necessarily show all my smaller paths. I used the A5 size edition of 2005, now replaced by a slightly larger version, sold at a reasonable price. A free of charge folding version is also currently available (presumably subsidised by 'Visit Guernsey') and may prove adequate, though it lacks many of the road names of the booklet version. A 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map of Guernsey has also been available in the past. However this does not show the road names, and many of the smaller lanes and tracks are not named on the ground.
These walks were written in the autumn and winter of 2008/9, apart from W4, W5 and the Saumarez Park Tree Walk which were Spring/Summer 2009, and W6/W7 which are Spring/Summer 2011. I am still walking our paths and lanes, and where anything seems to have changed, am making amendments/updates. However if you find any errors or difficulties in route finding, please send a comment via the comments page. (These won't necessarily be published on the page, but if valid I shall make the amendment!).
This website was a project to help to keep me amused in retirement, and all the walks are freely available for personal use, including download and printing. (Anybody wishing to make commercial use of any of the material though should note that the text, and most of the pictures, are my or my wife's copyright, and should contact us initially via the comments page.)