Walks: Tresco, St Mary, Isles of Scilly
We had booked to go Isles of Scilly but the lockdowns prevented us going there, so when the first lockdown ending was announced we rescheduled to go on the first weekend possible. This turned out to be a bit surreal experience as there was very few people there (great!) apart from locals, but many of the services and establishments were still shut (not great!).
We drove to Lands End airport and parked there for the trip and took a plane over to St Mary.
The airport is on the opposite side of the island to Hugh Town, the centre of the island, where we were also staying. We stayed in the tiniest B’n’B room, which had a bathroom built into a cupboard, overlooking the harbour.
The following morning we took a ferry over to Tresco island, which is famous for its garden. When we arrived at the gardens, it wasn’t really open. There was nobody at the gate to sell tickets, but the gates were open. We, among a few other tourists, wandered in and since there was nobody to throw us out, we walked around on a self-guided tour. Here’s a video of the walk around Tresco gardens.
After the garden tour, we continued to walk around the island. The jetties are tidal, so while we arrived to a jetty close to Tresco gardens, the jetty where we’d depart, was on the other side of the island. The island was quiet, with a few people around. The nature reminded me quite a bit of Abel Tasman in New Zealand. I also made a video of walking around the island. Both of the videos were made with a notorious V-mate gimbal, which was a crowdsourced project and in the end it never worked properly. I spent a lot of time fixing the colours and horizon levelling in edit.
The next day, we walked around St Mary. This was nice, because we didn’t have to worry about taking the ferry anywhere so we could take our time and not having to worry about catching a ferry back. We set off from Hugh town walking counter clockwise.
The west coast is very lush and tropical with great views over to Tresco. Reminded me quite a bit of lowland New Zealand. The northern tip changes into more rugged, and the climate seems different there too. It’s more like walking on the SWCP in north Cornwall. The south will have beautiful coves and then there’s the airport on top of a windy hill. There’s a short video below.