Friday 10 August 2007

Isles of Scilly... part two!


Ok, so it did rain a lot when we were there but I quite like drifting off to sleep listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the tent.

The weather changes sooo fast in Scilly. You could see the rain coming most of the time when it was sunny. It made for some dramatic views.

I fulfilled a dream while we were in Scilly. I rode a horse through the water and across the beach on St. Mary's, then through the bracken on the clifftop. That was exciting!

We also went on a RIB when a force 8 was brewing. That I will never forget. I don't think I have ever screamed so much. I really feared for my life at one point as we headed out to sea and the waves were almost knocking me out of the boat. I had full wet weather gear on and was still soaked to the skin when we finished. It was the most exhilarating experience of my life. We were supposed to be wildlife watching but we didn't see much, just a couple of seals and a few puffins. I think the fella who owned it had a wicked streak and just liked to scare people!


Sparrows are very naughty on Scilly.

This one was particularly amusing. It definitely had a love of lemon cheesecake. It actually LICKED the plate!!! It wasn't at all interested in my toasted teacake.

We escaped another few hours of torrential rain in this gorgeous vintage bus called Katie and went on a guided tour of the island. It had been a bit of a crappy day and for some reason I started laughing hysterically to myself when the driver struggled to get the bus into 2nd gear and we chugged up the hill at probably no more than 5 miles an hour.

P couldn't understand why I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I think at this point the whole camping in the rain and being constantly cold and wet was really getting to me and the hilarity of being packed like sardines into an old bus with the windows all steamed up so nobody could see anything anyway struck me as the funniest thing since I don't know what.

Finally the sun came out again and we took a boat to St. Agnes where the best pub, well ok, the only pub, is called The Turks Head and it is a lovely place with great food and one of the best views ever from the beer garden.


St. Agnes has a wild feel about it compared to the other islands and we were really surprised when we stumbled upon this beach that was just one mass of pebble stacks. I couldn't help but giggle when I spotted that someone had even built one on a rock out in the water. They covered the entire shore! It reminded me of Andy Goldsworthy (Nà - I thought of you and how you would have loved it). We couldn't resist building our own stacks and found that it's harder than it looks to make them balance. Bet they won't be there after the winter storms!


Ironically it was the day after we got the ferry back to the mainland that I found the best turquoise colour I'd been hunting for!

This is my favourite beach of all time... Porthcurno near Lands End. In the winter you can pick up exquisite miniature shells here and you can often spot seals here too. Also there's the famous Minack Theatre which is carved into the rock in the clifftop near where I'm sitting in this photo. It's an unforgettable experience wrapping up all warm and cosy and watching a play while the sun's setting over the sea behind the stage.

I think this will be the last of my posts about Scilly but we are off to Cornwall again soon. I haven't been around much this summer with one thing and another but things will get back to normal around here in a month or so. I still have a lot of posts to catch up on.

Have a good day whatever you're up to.