By Sean Power

St. Brelade is blessed with many wonderful features. One of these is the Railway Track or the Railway Walk. It is a wonderful amenity. Whether you start in St. Aubin or access it at one of many places on its corridor, it brings pleasure to thousands of Islanders.
The Walk teems with wildlife. On Saturday last, I witnessed a terrific game being played by two red squirrels. This pair charged around the trunk of a tree, chasing each other then shot up the tree, jumped from one tree to another and continued their game or chase. They pranced and danced from one tree to another, and how they judge their leaps and get it right is beyond me. It was a 5 minute show of agility, judgement and break-neck speed that I would not have missed for the world. This happened out near HMP La Moye.
The Walk is home to thousands of rabbits, and I am sure hundreds of thousands of birds. Along the way, you can catch glimpses of horses, cattle and sheep.
It is about 3.5 miles from St. Aubin to Corbiere. It is easy to park at Corbiere and walk back towards La Moye and Les Quennevais. It is easy to park at the car-park by the playing fields at Le Quennevais and walk towards St. Aubin or Corbiere. The Playing Fields themselves are a another nice walk as are the sand dunes behind. Younger children love the Elephant Park bordering the Railway Walk, by Petite Route des Mielles. Pont Marquet Country Park is another popular area.
At the pond by Pont Marquet, ducks occasionally settle and I have seen a big heron there a few times.
Walking towards St. Aubin towards Pont Marquet and on down towards the Shell House, the views change from sand dunes and playing fields to a valley and streams. Arriving at St. Aubin, the walker or cyclist has many choices. They can stop and have a cup of tea, a coffee, a bacon roll, lunch in many places and then take in the beauty of the harbour and the village itself.
Cyclists love the Railway Walk. It is a 1.75 mile energetic push from St. Aubin to Les Quennevais School. From there, the track flattens out all the way to Corbiere. Cycling from Corbiere, it is again flat all the way to Quennevais and then a test of brakes and control all the way from Quennevais to St. Aubin.
However, no matter how much we love the Railway Walk, it does need some tender loving care. It is overgrown in places and needs a good clean -up. Transport and Technical Services do their best, but it does need Parish involvement. Volunteers from the Parish and other organisations will be holding a meeting soon to discuss giving our much loved Railway Walk a spruce -up. This is a necessary project and I hope to post more information soon throughout the Parish.
So, get out there and enjoy our Walk. Islanders come from all over Parishes to enjoy. You should too. Soon, you will be given a chance to roll your sleeves up and spend a morning doing a bit of cleaning and clearing.
Watch this space !!