I am a man upon the land, A Selkie in the sea … Trad Scottish
Archive for the ‘Isles of Scilly’ Category
Rude Awakening Leave a comment
Scillyness Day #8 2 comments
All good things must come to an end, and so did our holiday. We paddled back from the island of St Agnes to Hugh Town on St Mary and trolleyed the kayaks onto the quay to await loading onto the Scillonian III. Due to mist and fog, no aircraft were leaving Scilly that day. This meant [...]
Scillyness Day #7 2 comments
Those sick to the point of nausea of hearing about our splendid Isles of Scilly holiday, will be glad to know that it’s nearly over. Anyway … No s++t, there we were, camping on the island of St Agnes with only the Western Rocks and Bishop Rock lighthouse between us and North America. It seemed rude [...]
Scillyness Day #6 3 comments
Another tediously bright blue sky day. We spent most of this day on Tresco, visiting the world renowned Abbey Gardens. Semi-tropical plants grow here year-round, on account of this being Britain’s mildest climate. The following photo has not been faked/Photoshopped in any way. Honestly! For some reason, tiny Tresco now has an amazingly well stocked [...]
A Day in the Life 3 comments
1. Wake up 2. Eat cold chips 3. Crap on nice car 4. Sleep
Scillyness Day #5 1 comment
True and authorised actual facts about the island of St Martin’s. They have Scilly shrews. A sign at the bakery says that whilst the dogs will feign starvation to beg food from you, they are actually well fed. They grow flowers year-round, to ship to mainland florists. The highest point of the island was used [...]
The Torrey Canyon 3 comments
The Seven Stones are a reef located roughly halfway between Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly. There has been a lightship anchored here since 1841, although in March 1967 this failed to prevent the Torrey Canyon running aground in broad daylight, causing a catastrophic oil slick along the Cornish coast. Classic British amateurism was displayed [...]
Scillyness Day #4 6 comments
My birthday! We launched early (tiptoeing past the neighbouring tents to the beach) and paddled more or less everywhere, paddling to at least 20 islands. This auspicious date was honoured with outstanding weather. However, on each island we visited, we discovered that the news somehow hadn’t got through. Red carpets, bunting, brass bands and Red Arrows fly-pasts [...]
Quarantine Leave a comment
The ‘Pest House’, a quarantine station on St Helen’s, Isles of Scilly A 1756 law stated, ‘be it enacted that, if plague shall appear on any ship, being northward of Cape Finisterre, the master shall immediately proceed to the harbour of St Helen’s Pool’.
Scillyness Day #3 Leave a comment
Monday was spent working in the pub and walking around St Martin’s, as the wind was still strong. In the evening the wind had eased and we paddled out to the Northern Isles, visiting the islands of Tean and St Helen’s. There was plenty of swell left over from the storm, which gave us some [...]
Scillyness Day #2 3 comments
Sunday morning on the island of St Martin’s saw drizzly rain and blustery wind. Various folk were dashing around the campsite propping up their tents. We were in a ‘proper’ tent so we weren’t bothered. We failed to notice that we were actually pitched on a part of the campsite that was more sand than soil … [...]
Scillyness Day #1 Leave a comment
After leaving our car with a friend in Penzance (cheers Richard!) we loaded up our kayaks for the ferry journey to the Isles of Scilly. The three hour sail to Hugh Town on the island of St Mary’s was mainly notable because it was the first time that Heather has taken a ferry anywhere (and we’ve [...]
At World’s End 6 comments
Heather and I have had a truly fantastic week in and around the Isles of Scilly. Right now we’re waiting for the ferry back to the mainland, so I’ve taken advantage of someone else’s wireless network. Plenty of reports and photos to follow, but for the time being, a single photo can speak a thousand [...]
Listen carefully, here comes the science bit … Leave a comment
This might be my last post for a while, as I have a lot on in the next few days, and next week I’ll be off in the Isles of Scilly. How do you actually write a sea kayaking guide? Well, I have a system of sorts. 95% of the work is done on dry land [...]
Avalanche 3 comments
Yesterday, the Isle of Wight got smaller.
Merchant Royal 4 comments
In 1641, the Merchant Royal reached the Western Approaches to the English Channel. Captain John Limbrey and his crew of 80 were nearing the end of a long voyage across the Atlantic from Mexico. Their cargo was reported as “£300,000 in silver, £100,000 in gold and as much again in jewel”, pirated from the Spanish [...]
Scillonian III 1 comment
There are two ways to get your kayak to the Isles of Scilly. I’ve tried them both. One way is to paddle there, a biggish but not extreme open crossing. The other way is to take the ferry. The Scillonian III makes the crossing from Penzance most days of the week. It’s popularly known as [...]
Nor any drop to drink 4 comments
The crossing from Land’s End (the south west tip of Britain) to the Isles of Scilly is nearly 30 miles, heading straight out into the open Atlantic. You cross strong tides at the start, and then two busy shipping lanes. If you are going to attempt this, then choose really solid companions. On this day I was [...]
Scilly Heather 2 comments
The paddler in the picture is Mrs Rainsley. I quite like her, so I married her. She will be joining me for much of the paddling this year and helping with photography, proof-reading, etc. She also knows all manner of really useful things about ecology, geology and botany…no doubt she’ll be jotting down some contributions [...]
Launching Out… Leave a comment
This year I am researching, writing and photographing a Sea Kayaking guide to South West England, from the Bristol Channel to the Isle of Wight. This is a pretty exciting undertaking. I have paddled all of this wonderful coast before, but I plan to revisit it all during 2007. Such a chore! I intend to [...]
