ALDERNEY CHANNEL ISLANDS - AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS - FORTS & GERMAN BUNKERS, CASQUETS LIGHTHOUSE

If you fly into Alderney the first thing you'll notice is that the plane is very small, that the airport is equally small, that the phone and post boxes are blue and then above all it is a truly magic and wonderful place. My wife Karen came here as a young girl in 1969 and stayed with her relatives Betty and Gerald Duffield who lived at "Blue Stones" at Longis Bay. Here are some shots of the 1969 Cavalcade at the Butes..1.......2.......3....and finally a sunset in the 1960s.  Saye Bay in 1969 looks much as it does today, a car is even parked in the sdame place - as does the Longis Road, then and now.

The beaches are large, clean, white and above all empty, even on a busy weekend. ..and all the German WWII mines have gone....we hope!!! The Germans who occupied the Channel Islands in WWII thoughtfully foresaw a secondary use for their anti-tank walls as windbreaks to make it much more pleasant to sunbath. If you look hard you may find some authentic German beach defence obstacles, the "x" shaped Hedgehog and the "A" shaped Tetrahedra - see above. They are at Platte Saline.

Walking around the Island, which is the best way to see things and very easy as it's pretty flat if you avoid cliff climbing, you'll notice bunkers, bunkers, bunkers, more bunkers and all a little different, some are camouflaged with natural materials to blend into their surroundings, again thanks to the Germans. There are so many it is amazing. Many are overgrown with bushes and briars to the extent that it is probable there are some in some dense thicket awaiting re-discovery. Among this thicket, remains can still be found of the original German WWII barbed wire that would have defended these bunkers had us Brits invaded the Channel Islands.

A great aid to walking in a hire car, which in August 2004 cost £18 per day, incl. insurance etc, plus £2 toward petrol for the hire period - check before you go, this may change. The roads are empty, save Town and slow scenic driving through the roads is a delight. Much cheaper than in the mainland. If you have the time, a visit to Alderney museum is very informative.

Some of these bunkers have a network of tunnels and passageways connecting them into a whole, these passages are part above and part underground and known as "Resistance Nests," this one being restored, near Fort Doyle.

When you have seen enough of bunkers, there is the German Airforce Tower - in the middle of some houses! It was their HQ.

Older than the Bunkers are the British Forts, dating from the 19th century, these structures although large and imposing, totally blend into the landscape and add to it rather than distract. Some are surrounded by sea at high tide, a causeway linking them to the main land. These structures add a romance to the landscape and are the subject of many an artist. Fort Clonque, below left, is a "holiday let" with a difference! It has hardly changed since it was built.

The town is called, "Town" or more exactly St Anne. It is as quiet as a quiet town can be. The harbour is called Braye and features, a Fort and a "daymark." This is an aid to visual daytime navigation at sea. The harbour is protected by a massively long breakwater, built originally to protect the British Fleet in the 19th century.

Around the coast are 3 large coastal artillery batteries. The one near the airport is Battery Annes. Remaining today are the gun pits, and the underground magazines and the ammunition lifting  machinery.

In the same approximate area is Lager Sylt, below left, the only German SS Concentration Camp to be built on British soil. It remains today a quiet and dismal place, with just the entrance gateway intact and a few concrete bases of buildings just visible. The Hammond Memorial, below right, is a tribute by a well known Alderney family, the Hammonds to all the foreign workers who died on Alderney in the work camps and concentration camp. The numbers are still debated today but sadly are in the thousands - man's inhumanity to man.

AERIAL PHOTOS