Walk Distance: 1.4 km for short route; 3.1 km for longer route.
Walk Duration: 30 minutes for short route; just over an hour for longer route.
Map: Jersey Official Leisure Map – although the map below or those available from Jersey Water will suffice as the trail is very easy to follow.
Suitable for: Pushchairs, babies in backpacks, all the family.
Walk features: Waterside walking, woodland, ducks and geese, easy parking, easy to follow trails of varying lengths.
Walk description:
For those days when you want to escape the beaches or heat of the sun and need to let the kids run off some steam, Queens Valley Reservoir is a great spot for a quiet wander on well defined tracks with two routes of different lengths around the waterside. Little ones will enjoy seeing the large number of ducks and geese who hopefully crowd around the car-park end of the reservoir (n.b. feeding them is discouraged) and the well-maintained paths mean this is good pushchair walking for sturdy standard buggies and all-terrain pushchairs.
Perfect paths for a pushchair!
The walk starts from the Queens Valley Reservoir car park, located on La Rue d’Aval just before St. Saviour’s Hospital if approaching from the east. Leave the car-park through the gate opposite the car-park entrance, following the path with the reservoir on your right hand side. The path does climb up a short hill and back down again before coming to a dam.
For the short route described here, cross over the dam turning right onto the path beyond that follows closest to the reservoir’s edge. The track now follows the reservoir on its west side on an undulating woodland path through shady trees back to the car park. This path is a little less structured than the east bank and can get muddy after wet weather. When you reach the point opposite the duck pond area by the car park you will need to carry on to the left around the water and back through the car park – the short cut through the gate opposite is kept locked to the public.
The west side of the reservoir offers more rugged woodland walking.
For those looking for a longer route it is possible to complete the full circumference of the reservoir. At the dam, simply continue straight along the path ahead instead of crossing to the west bank. The path continues around the reservoir’s perimeter to the lower car park before bending back along the opposite side and rejoining the path described above at the dam. The full route is just over 3km long and takes just over one hour to complete at a leisurely pace.
More details about Queens Valley Reservoir can be found at the Jersey Water website.
Map of Route:
Directions:
The walk starts from the Queens Valley Reservoir car park, located just off La Rue d’Aval and just east of St. Saviour’s Hospital in the east of Jersey and west of the village of Faldouet. A bus service is available to St. Saviour’s Hospital on routes 13 and 23, providing a transport connection from St. Helier, Durrel Wildlife Park, Gorey and St. Martins. More details of bus times can be found here.
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