St Mary's (2)

I continued my walk around St Mary's  in the Scilly Isles by going to the Old Town which was no more than a few houses.  This is the beautiful old church of St Mary's in Old Town. In the churchyard is the grave of Harold Wilson (1916-1995) who was Prime Minister of the UK from !964 -70 and 1974-76. 

The churchyard overlooks the sea.

A number of graves were in memory of men who died at sea.

I left the churchyard and continued my walk around the coastline.

A pillbox, one of the defences left over from the second world war.

At the top of the cliffs I had to walk around the airport's runway. Flights had been cancelled today because of poor visibility. There is a warning notice and lights to let you know when you can't go near the runway as a flight is about to take off.

They were doing some kind of  practise involving the fire engine.

A path from the beach led me to a nature trail by a lake. Here there were a couple of hides overlooking reed beds. I saw about a dozen teals gently paddling amongst the reeds. I only knew what they were because a birder came into the hide and told me.

I walked inland for a little while looking for an ancient burial ground. On the way I passed fields of daffodils which were already in bud.

Hammock made from a fishing net.

The Porth Hellick burial chamber

This burial chamber, an example of a Scillonian 'entrance grave' , is part of a larger cemetery which had at least eight other cairns and entrance graves. They were built over 4000 years ago in the late Neolithic or early Bronze age.

Can you see the face in the rocks?

There are as many as 80 prehistoric chambered tombs known on the Scilly Isles but this is one of the best preserved.

After a few hours walking I came across Juliet's Garden. With a fresh crab and lobster salad on the menu I was in heaven. Pity the weather wasn't a bit brighter but at least the rain had stopped.

It was a short walk around the coast back to where I was staying. What a fabulous walk it had been.