WESTERN MORNING NEWS TUESDAY JUNE 19 2012 21WMN-E01-S220 TUESDAY JUNE 19 2012 WESTERN MORNING NEWS WMN-E01-S2
Living Cornwall
Picture postcards from the paradise isles – thirty six hours of chilling on Scilly
WHY VISIT SCILLY?
“I know parts of North Africa betterthan I know North Cornwall. I’vebeen to Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt,Australia, America, Mexico andChina. But I’ve never been to Bude.And I’ve never been to the Isles ofS c i l ly. ” This was the response of aCornish friend when I told him Iwas planning a few days in thegroup of islands just west of Land’sEnd, writes Simon Parker. It’s only a28-mile hop, yet many people whohave lived in Cornwall all their liveshave never crossed that shortstretch of water – either by sea orair. So, with the help of SimplyScilly (the official tourism website)and in the spirit of promoting localdestinations, Living Cornwall of fersa taste of the archipelago, a whistle-stop overview, 36 hours on Scilly…
WHERE AM I?
In bed. The alarm was set for 5.30amand its ring is only marginallylouder than the dawn chorus, led bya particularly vocal willow warbler.Clear and sunny, the 50-minute driveto Newquay International is quickand quiet at this time of day. Parked,checked in and frisked, the SkybusTwin Otter is soaring over the northcoast slightly ahead of schedule,pilot Ross easing his aircraft west-wards. Skybus is aptly named: it’s abus, and the carrier makes everyeffort to ensure smooth securitychecks and minimum delays.
T O U C H D OW N
With no carousel at St Mary’s air-port to delay proceedings, bordercontrol takes precisely ten secondsand with rucksack buckled, we’reoff. The walk to Hugh Town followsa winding pittosporum-fringed off-road path, taking in Old Town’squay and beach, the fascinating an-cient graveyard, the isles’ stunningnew £16 million school and anabundance of Padstow-pink valerianand other wild flowers sproutingfrom walls and hedges.
CHECKING IN
Once in Hugh Town, the morningbustle is yet to begin. Tregarthen’sHotel is perfectly situated, allowing
guests to enjoy the absolute conveni-ence of being in the town and there-fore only a couple of minutes fromboats or shops, while offering roomsand a terrace with uninterruptedviews of Tresco, Samson, Bryherand the ocean. Founded in 1848 byCaptain Frank Tregarthen, who rana steam packet, the hotel retainsmuch of its original charm. Luxuri-ous without being pretentious, itsstaff are genuinely friendly and in-terested, while the menu is unfussy,well-presented and delicious. I dropmy bag and go.
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
It’s almost 9 o’clock. Time for break-fast. Kavorna Cafe was a favouritebakery for many years and nowserves food all day – good for coffeeand a cake, while deciding the it-inerary. This is to be a brief visit,
with the intention of focusing on thesimple, natural beauty of the is-lands. Scilly is all about the greatoutdoors, the sea, walking, wildlife,boats and peace. It is less suited toanyone looking for “at t r a c t i o n s ”.The sun is up, it’s going to be a fine,warm day. Heading for an off-islandis the obvious choice. But whichone? Boards dotted through thetown advertise a range of trips withSt Mary’s Boatmen’s Associationand other operators. Pin in themap... St Martin’s!
OUT ON THE WATER
Taking the long route to the quayvia the beach in order to indulge ina bit of boat-watching along the way,the launches are already beginningto fill. They have names like Me-ridian, Britannia, Golden Spray,Guiding Star and S e a h o rs e . Acheery Alec Hicks welcomes passen-gers aboard Kingfisher for a voyageto the Eastern Isles in search of
seals. Alec is confident – so much sothat he offers a full refund of theticket price in exchange for 50p perseal sighting. Take my advice andstick to the tariff or you are certainto be out of pocket. For regularScillyophiles, the ride over is an op-portunity to reacquaint themselveswith the familiar seascape; for Scillyvirgins it’s a thrill a second. TheEastern Isles are a group of 12 un-inhabited rocks of various sizes andromantic names. There’s GreatGanilly, Little Arthur, Menawethan,Ragged Island and Hanjague. In theminch between two of these, Alecspots the first of several dozen seals.Whoops of delight from young andold alike. There are also shags andcormorants on lichen-coveredledges, lesser black-backed gullsnesting in patches of flowering Hot-tentot figs and even a pair of im-pressive peregrine falcons on thelook-out for racing pigeons and rats.And at tiny Nornour, skipper Alecpoints out the site where hundredsof exquisite Roman brooches werediscovered in the 1960s.
GOING TO CHURCH
Tying up at Higher Town quay,Kingfisher discharges her cargo andheads back to St Mary’s, leaving thehappy travellers to wander as theywill. St Martin’s is perhaps thelushest of the five inhabited islandsin terms of native flora, with springand summer offering an abundanceof wild flowers. Stopping briefly fora coffee at the Little Arthur Cafe,it’s time to go to church. For anisland of only around 140 residents –scattered between the settlements ofHigher Town, Middle Town andLower Town – the island is wellserved with religion. Its Methodistchapel dates from 1845 and theAnglican church, a stones’ t h rowaway, features a fine stained glasswindow depicting St Martin protect-ing the poor. For Christians and thespiritually-inclined, they provide aplace for prayer and contemplation.For the rest, it’s somewhere tocower from the rain. No need forshelter on this occasion, however.
TAKING A STROLL
It’s midday and after the cars and
planes and boats of the morning, it’stime for a good long stank. Takingone of the many machar paths thatlead off the main drag, it is possibleto view the earliest surviving ex-ample of a beacon in the BritishIsles, a large red-and-white daymarkerected in 1683 by Thomas Ekins.Descending over a carpet of pinkthrift, the sea is impossibly aqua-marine – and impossibly inviting. Itlooks for all the world like a bro-chure for a South Sea island resort:white sand, clear water and deser-ted. The big difference is the tem-perature of that water. Scilly’s sea iscold all year round – and today is noexception. A brief, but invigorating,dip. Heading north at a pace inorder to warm up, White Islandcomes into view. Well worth cross-ing to at low water, it should benoted that once the tide changes the
sea whips over a linking causewayat an alarming lick. Back on StMar tin’s proper, there’s an in-triguing maze field of uncertain vin-tage. Similar to the famous TroyTown on St Agnes, there are spirals,fish and even names created fromlichen-covered boulders, now semi-submerged in sand and vegetation.Elsewhere a Scilly shrew – or white-toothed shrew – scuttles from awashed-up boiler suit on the strand-line, where it had presumably beenfeasting on sandhoppers. Headinginland are walls bursting withmesembryanthemums, scented hon-eysuckle, popping furze pods andacres of samphire, which can bepicked young and eaten raw, boiledand served with butter or pickled.Gigantic echiums rise like sky-scrapers, thrushes bash snails inyour path, clouds of small-blue but-terflies feed on the flowers, whileswallows, in turn, feed on them.Phew! And it’s still only lunchtime.
Talking of feeding, I’m ready for abite. There are several options, de-pending on your pocket. The islandhas one hotel, St Martin’s On TheIsle, one pub, The Seven Stones, andSt Martins Bakery, while the postoffice has everything for a picnic. Inrecent years, Polreath Cafe atHigher Town has excelled with itssuperb St Martin’s crab salad,served with home-grown leaves andhomemade bread. Unbeatable.
DOING A BIT OF SHOPPING
Fortunately, there aren’t too manyretail opportunities on the off is-lands, but it is worth calling in toChurchtown Farm, a business thathas seen significant growth inrecent years. Flowers by post aresurely the perfect gift for gran, mumor missus. Brownie points and youd o n’t even have to carry them. Daf-fodils and narcissi in season, alongwith scented pinks, Cornish liliesand green chrysanthemums. Jobdone – and it’s back to Kingfisher.
TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME
The weather this June afternoon isperfect. However, if it wasn’t, there’sonly really one destination: StMary’s solitary wet weather attrac-tion. For a tiny entrance fee, Isles ofScilly Museum in Church Street willkeep adults and children amused fora couple of hours. An absolute gemof a museum, it has an unrivalledcollection of archaeology spanningsome 10,000 years of history, fromstone axes and the exquisite Romanbrooches unearthed on Nornour toremarkable wreck relics and the1877 sailing gig, Klondike.
POSH NOSH
Back at Tregarthen’s I have to dragmyself away from the bedroomwindow and its view over Tresco,Samson and Round Island in orderto keep a dinner date in the hotel’sdining room. But what do youknow? Every one of the restaurant’stables overlooks the sea. I’m joinedby manager Carina Luscombe,whose family have been on StMary’s for many years. Over Scil-lonian crab salad and Cornish seabass, we discuss the merits of theislands as a holiday destination.
Carina challenges the often-heldview that Scilly is over-expensiveand that it offers little for childrento do. With two small children of herown, she says there is no better dayout than a boat trip to one of themany beautiful beaches, investigat-ing rock pools, collecting shells,taking a picnic, paddling and build-ing sandcastles. As for prices,Carina is confident that some hotels,guesthouses, self-catering and camp-sites may offer deals. “As far asTre garthen’s is concerned, I amalways very happy to accommodatepeople’s individual needs,” she said.“We are flexible and we want toexpand on what we offer in order tocater for people’s individual require-m e n t s. ” Open from March to Octo-ber, Carina says last-minute dealsare often available. “Just give us acall,” she adds. Well, Carina, it was
nice talking, but I have a boat toc at ch . . .
INTO THE SUNSET
Fraser Hicks manoeuvres Sea Kingaway from the quay just after 8pm,with ornithologist and naturalistWill Wagstaff taking up the onboardcommentary almost immediately.We are heading out to the seabirdsanctuary of Annet, with the lowevening sun already casting its raysover the waves. Scilly has so manymoods, depending on season,weather and state of the tide – andnight sailings offer a wholly differ-ent view of the archipelago. Puffinsare delightful birds, clown-like inflight and photogenic when feeding.Annet is abuzz with them tonight,along with hundreds of shags onsentry duty, fulmars darting into thelow cliffs and Manx shearwatersskimming close to the water in greatdisplays of speed and agility. Withthe sun beginning to set over Amer-
ica, Fraser steers for Hugh Townand a pint outside at the AtlanticInn, before the short stroll back toTre garthen’s terrace for a nightcap.A few pages of Andrew Garve’s en-gaging The Riddle Of Samson andsleep soon beckons.
WHERE AM I THIS TIME?
In bed. It’s 5.30am. No need to setthe alarm because the curtains areopen and the gulls are already upand about and bickering. A slowwalk around Peninnis Head, on thelook-out for passing marine mam-mals, before heading back for break-fast of smoked haddock – aTre garthen’s special. After thesmooth contours of St Martin’s, it’stime for a taste of the wilder side ofScilly. St Agnes lies to the west andhas a completely different atmo-sphere to its neighbours. Jagged androcky, it backs on to the WesternRocks, a minefield of needles whichhave claimed countless ships andlives over the centuries. Some say itis the world’s largest maritimegraveyard. Taking an anticlockwiseroute from the quay, the shore offersample opportunities to mooch andidle, to observe oyster catchers andshelduck, buy a cornet from TroyTown Ice-creams close to the camp-site, or construct teetering stonesculptures. At Beady Pool on Wing-letang Bay it is worth trying yourluck at finding a piece of antiquejewellery – beads lost from the cargoof a Dutch ship in the 17th century.It’s like searching for the proverbialneedle in a haystack and while I’venot been lucky so far, despite manyforays, a girl I know found a beadjust a couple of years ago... so it ispossible. Crossing Gugh bar leads toa land of the ancients, bristling withNeolithic entrance graves, BronzeAge cairns, statuesque menhirs,Civil War defences and kelp pits. It’sa must for archaeologists anddreamers. A couple of 35p bunchesof pinks from the Bulb Shop willsuffice as presents and if there’stime, the Turk’s Head offers a rangeof ales and good food.
TAKING IN THE VIEW
Back on the “mainland” of St Mary’sthere is a range of options, from
boat hire or bike hire to a round-island bus tour or coast path trek tothe magnificent Bant’s Carn burialchamber and Halangy Down IronAge village. But I’ve been up since5.30am and fancy a chill and a spotof boat-watching on PorthcressaBeach. Zzzz...
HEADING HOME
Despite the clear skies and aerialviews along the north coast, theflight back to Newquay is not ahappy one... simply because it’sheading in the wrong direction.Only thirty-six hours away and itfeels like a week. Whatever theseason, Scilly never disappoints.Was it Dr Johnson or RichardCarew or someone else entirely whoonce said that “the man who is tiredof Scilly is a man tired of life itself ”.Right on.
PICTURE POSTCARDS
(clockwise from top left-handcorner): Skybus lands at St Mary’s,young seal on Great Ganilly, tower-ing echium, maze field and Whiteisland, Tregarthen’s Hotel, ruinedcottage, mesembryanthemums,boulder art on St Agnes, sunsetaboard Sea King, machar paths onSt Martins, Beady Pool, AtlanticInn, ancient quay, white sands, nat-uralised plants, Samson fromSkybus, shags on Annet, themuseum, lichen-covered boulders,Scilly shrew, Kingfisher, puffin,Annet, Hugh Town bench, BeadyPool beads, St Martin stained glass,heading out, waiting for the boat onSt Agnes, a lone tree, Bishop Rocklighthouse from St Agnes, a viewfrom Tregarthen’s, gulls and wild-fl owe r s.
For more details, visit: www.simplyscilly.co.uk orwww.tregarthens-hotel.co.uk or www.skybus.co.uk
I know parts of NorthAfrica better than I knowNorth Cornwall... and I’venever been to Scilly
Scilly is about the greatoutdoors and the sea,walking, wildlifeand peace
Scilly sea is cold all yearround – and today is noexception, so it was abrief, but invigorating, dip
Who was it who said thatthe man who is tired ofScilly is a man tiredof life itself?
