Last Summer Jo and I tried several times to sail to the Scillies with Sea Fever but every time we set off another low pressure system rolled in from the Atlantic. The Isles of Scilly are not the place to be in a storm! Sailor stories abound of yachts stuck in Falmouth waiting for the right weather to go to the Scillies. But this week we were blessed with fine winds and settled conditions, albeit rather soggy conditions at times!
Sailing around Lands End and across to St Mary’s, the main Island hub in the Scillies, we found the mooring area busy busy. Not with British yachts but with lots of boats from France and Ireland, and even two from Norway moored next to us. In Hughtown we were delighted to visit 3 churches and, quite by chance, meet Rev Elizabeth Burke on her bicycle as she toured her Parish. They have strong support at the worship on the Islands – maybe living there one is more conscious of our fragility and a greater dependence on something much bigger than ourselves?
I had heard that each Island in the Scillies has its own special character. And so it proved to be as we moved to New Grimsby Sound and visited Tresco and Bryher. Completely different from St Marys. A real highlight was visiting the Tresco Abbey Gardens. A very special place – one could while away a week there just enjoying the atmosphere.
Slightly bizarrely there is also a museum at the Gardens displaying figureheads from the many ships that have been wrecked on the Islands. Including a ship of my namesake…
Readers may recall that the loss of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet on the Scillies was pivotal in generating the search for a way of finding “Longitude” when navigating. While returning with the fleet to England after the campaign at Toulon, Shovell’s flagship struck rocks near the Isles of Scilly at 8 pm on 22 October 1707. Four large ships sank with nearly 2,000 sailors lost that night.
Having been spared the treacherous rocks of the Scillies we set sail for the mainland and St Ives for the next stage of our pilgrimage adventures.
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