St Mary's

My last day on the Isles of Scilly and the forecast was rain again so I decided to stay on St Mary's. 

My waterproofs had dried overnight so I put them on and went off for a short walk.

A short walk around the coast from Hughtown and I was at Harry's Walls, an unfinished 16th century artillery fort which was intended to protect St Mary's. In the Tudor period the harbour of St Mary's, which you can see from here, would have been vulnerable to attack from England's enemies, France and Spain.

The rain was easing off so I continued my coastal walk and decided I would walk on to Juliet's garden which has views over the harbour.

It was only 10.30 when I got there so too early for lunch. 

They had plenty of indoor seating so I took a seat by the window and enjoyed a cup of tea and toasted teacake. They did have fresh crab so I asked if they could make me a crab sandwich to take away. I thought I would take it back to my flat and have it for lunch there and go out again in the afternoon. 

As I left the restaurant/cafe the rain had stopped so I decided I would walk on a bit more. In the end I walked round the whole of the island about 10-12 miles as the rain was on and off but never that heavy.

A goldfinch (I think) on a garden feeder.

I wish I had brought my camera on holiday with me but I had decided my phone would be good enough. However, it doesn't have much of a zoom which would have come in handy. I thought I had spotted an osprey as I knew one had been seen a few times in this area. 

I found a sheltered spot and settled down to look out for it. I managed to get a very blurry video of the large bird but even on a bad video it was obvious it wasn't an osprey but a great blue heron. An impressive and large bird nevertheless.

I enjoyed watching the heron skimming above the water whilst I feasted on my delicious white crab sandwich.

Spotted a few butterflies, mainly red admirals. Butterflies seem few and far between this year.

I enjoyed my final day of walking. 

I didn't meet many others on the path but I did chat to one gentleman who recognised me from one of the other islands. He called out to me before he caught me up for which I was very grateful. The noise of the sea drowns out all other sounds and he would have given me a fright as I was totally unaware of his presence. Another man who was out running, coughed very loudly before overtaking me. I much appreciated their awareness of silently approaching a lone female out walking.

I just about managed to capture the rainbow.

This is a sign you don't see often, warning you of low flying aircraft.

In fact you have to cross the end of the runway to continue on the coastal path.

It started raining heavily just as I got back into Hugh Town. I was so pleased I had continued with my walk as it proved a beautiful way to spend my last day on the island.

It's 8.30am the following morning and we are getting ready to board the flight which will take me to Exeter from where I will be returning to London by Train.

There were just four passengers on this flight. It was a bit cloudy so I didn't have a good view of the islands as we left but I had an excellent view of the pilot!

Bryher

 A cloudy day with rain forecast but I certainly wasn't staying in all day so I donned my waterproofs and set off. The boat had no shelter except a small cabin for the captain.

The rain stopped as I was walking round the island.

A children's playground made up of fishing nets and buoys.

One side of the island has sandy beaches whilst the other side was rocky and wild.

There was an inland lake which had numerous swans on it.

Succulents seemed to do well .

There was a cafe open not far from the quay so I ordered some soup and a cup of tea. Then it started raining and they had no indoor seating! shelter! I hadn't thought this through at all. I was soaked in no time. I couldn't be bothered to take any photos as it was so miserable. I decided to go back to the other quay where there was a church and just hoped it would be open.

There was a couple of others taking shelter inside but I'm not sure where everyone else was that had come over on the boat. It was going to be almost 2 hours before the boat was due to return. The modern stained glass windows were impressive.

Fortunately I had a book with me so was able to pass the time reading and drying out.

The journey back was grim with heavy rain all the way. Although my feet and legs were dry (definitely worth the extra money I paid for the waterproof trousers!) I felt cold and wet. Couldn't wait to get back to have a hot shower.