It was an early start for everyone. The Crouchen Clan, Margaret, Nicky and Vanessa, and David were up at 0245 in order to get away and off to Penzance for the 0630 ferry.
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| Nicky, Vanessa & Margaret - not early morning people |
Once we'd all had a hot drink, everyone appeared a bit more awake and happy and so we set off in to the dark.
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| LOOK !!! Its the moon. |
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It was a pretty good drive to Penzance, especially as all sensible people were still in bed, and we got to the boat in good time to park the car and drop the cases off. The boarding was very organised and we soon found ourselves on board and sitting in the bar/saloon.
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| All abroad and comfy in the bar |
The crossing took about two and a half hours, the weather was good and the sea was flat calm so it was very pleasant to sit outside.
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| Two Shady Characters |
There were also some interesting clouds in a very blue sky as we caught our first sight of the Isles of Scilly.
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| First Sight of the Isles of Scilly |
Although for some it was a bit windy on deck.
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| Nicky windswept and interesting ? |
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| The Troublesome Trio |
The docking at St Mary's harbour was equally efficient, and for a small fee of £1.20, Island Carrier will deliver tagged and addressed bags straight to your accommodation. However, Nicky and I were left to struggle with the bags as Margaret and Vanessa strode off down the pier, with Vanessa doing her best Count Dracula impression.
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She comes from Transylvania |
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St Mary's is not very big, so it did not take us long at all to find our B&B. The Auriga Guest House is run by Sheila and Chris who are a very friendly couple and seem to know just about everyone on the island.
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| The Auriga Guest House |
Once we'd checked -in and left our bags we headed out to explore the town. First stop, because it was right on the doorstep was the lovely Porthcressa beach.
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| View to Porthcressa Beach |
It was such a nice view we decided to use the 10 second time delay on the camera in order to get us all in a photo together on the beach.
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| Four of us on the beach. |
Not a bad photo, but Nicky decided it was too far away and I should take another photo zoomed in on them a bit more - and this is where the problems of taking group shots with people of restricted height becomes very apparent Snow White has this problem all the time. After doing my best to frame the group minus me in the view finder, I set the ten second timer and rushed to be part of the photo. Well the photo speaks for itself.
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| Them... and most of me. |
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| View of the bay. |
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| Another view of the bay |
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| Ness and the clouds. |
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| Clear, clear water. |
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| Crouching with the Crouchens - I was getting in the photo this time |
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| Nicky |
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| Margaret enjoying her birthday |
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| View from beach towards the castle. |
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After we'd enjoyed the views from the beach, we walked down Silver Street towards what is probably the town centre in search of some breakfast.
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| Walking down Silver Street, the beach behind us. |
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| View of St Mary's harbour : 1. |
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| View of St Mary's harbour : 2 |
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| View of St Mary's harbour : 3 |
It was good to get a seat and some breakfast after having been up since early morning and with very little sleep, so after a bite to eat and some coffee & tea we decided to head up the hill towards the Star Castle, partly to enjoy the views and partly to check our diner reservation for the evening.
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| Up the steep hill towards the castle. |
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| The Garrison Gates. |
It was quite a hike up to the castle but the views made it all worth while.
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| View down to St Mary's |
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| View to Bryer & Tresco |
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| View to Samson |
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| View to harbour |
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| Almost at the top. |
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| Finally at the top - can you see the relief. |
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| Having a seat. |
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| It was really sunny |
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| and a good climate for palm trees. |
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We walked on past the Star Castle, past the football pitch home to the smallest football league in the world. Two teams play each other 16 times for the league title. There are also 3 cup competitions, but there is only one match in each competition and that is the final. When we went past there was a friendly being played. Then we walked towards the camp site and followed a lane down the side to get to the past back round the island.
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| Is the gate keeping them out or keeping them in? |
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| Wandering round the island. |
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| Posing. |
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| One of the old battlements. |
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| 3 wise monkeys... or just 3 monkeys. |
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| View back to Porthcressa beach. |
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| Nessa. |
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| Mags |
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| Nick-Nak |
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| David |
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| David & Nicky - almost in the photo. |
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| Nicky being athletic or is that arthritic. |
After our hike round the hill we retired back to the B&B for an afternoon nap to get ready and rested for our evening meal.
So at 7PM our cab duly arrived to whisk us up the hill to the Star Castle Restaurant.
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| Us outside guest house |
This is the entrance to the Castle, in through a tunnel and portcullis and then your met with narrow walkways and steps to the ramparts.
We arrived at the restaurant in good time for a wee aperitif in the Dungeon Bar. Unknown to Margaret, Alan and Pat had made their way down from Scotland and muscled in on the trip and were hiding in the bar ready to surprise Margaret. See video below.
The Star Castle Restaurant was very elegantly laid out and the staff were extremely good.
But most important of all was that the food was extremely good, we had a mixture of 2 and 3 courses between us and nobody had a dish they didn't think was superb.
We even managed to find a couple of bottles of very nice and affordable wine.
And the meal was finished all too soon........
And then there was the cake....... and a very reserved chorus of HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Sunset from the ramparts towards Bryer and Tresco.
Then a final night cap in the bar before the taxis came to take us away.......
A super and very long first day.
