The Isles of Scilly

The Indian Summer seemed to be set to continue for a few more days so time to move on to the Scilly Isles, 25 miles off Land's End.


This was the Day of the Sail Change - we left the shelter of Padstow Harbour expecting the Met Office's predicted S or SE 3 to 4, incr 4 or 5 later.  Later had come early, so we changed down to the #4 headsail and put two reefs in the main - by lunchtime we had gusts over 30kts (F7) and had furled the #4 down.  Despite the wind it was a comfortable sail and the only downside was the fog that clung to the land - we saw nothing of the North Cornwall or Land's End.  11 hours later we arrived in St Mary's, Scilly Isles and picked up a mooring buoy.


Day One Scilly Isles:

Fog:  visibility approx 50 m.  Having no GPS on the dinghy, we decided to stay put and wait for it to lift.

The fog gradually lifted, and we could see the surrounding rocks and islands.  

The local NHS Ambulance

Hugh Town Harbour, St Mary's Island

At high tide you could almost park your dinghy in the Slip Inn Pub.  The black yacht seemed to be quite keen to try this as well!

The Slip Inn.

The Island has a sub tropical climate, with plants to match.

Naturally there was a castle, complete with battlements so we set off to have a look.

Many of the 17th Century cannons were still in place - defence had clearly been important to the People of St Mary's.

The coastline was fantastic - there were huge rounded slabs of granite, some precariously balanced and others looking as if they had been placed by a Landscape Gardener!

The coast itself was also spectacular - and very unforgiving in a storm!

Apart from the rocks, there were other things of interest on the island:

Not exactly what you'd expect, but apparently the local butcher kept a couple of reindeer as pets.

The Lighthouse on Stilts

We decided to spend another day in the Scilly Isles, and take a boat trip to one of the other islands - . Tresco Island is famed for fantastic botanical gardens, but has a Dogs on Leads rule so  we chose to go south to St Agnes instead.

The Island Ferry boat - weighed down with Twitchers! 

More lovely beaches

The usual boats under repair - or not.

The Turk's Head Pub - the Most South Westerly Pub in the British Isles  - where we had an excellent crab salad lunch in the sunshine.

And back to St Mary's on the ferry

The forecast was now suggesting the end of the Indian Summer, so it was time to leave the Scilly Isles and head back to the relative shelter of mainland UK.  We initially planned to head for Penzance, but after a closer look at the Almanac we decided that Falmouth was a better bet with 24 hour access.

We set off at first light - heading East!