Simply Scilly
Didja miss me?
No, I'm not even going to make another pathetic attempt to say that I'm going to try harder to blog...
Anyway: We're on holiday. Much needed I should add. The last few months have been crazy busy with work and by the middle of last week I could't wait to get away.
The Isles of Scilly (for that is where we are, gentle reader) are somewhat west of the westernmost end of Cornwall, and comprise between 100 and 150 islands, depending on the tide and how you define 'island'. Yeah, some of them are really just rocks:-). Five are permanently inhabited, and we're staying on the largest, St Mary's, in a rather fabulous little cottage stuck out on the very western end of the island. The view from the living room window across the channel to the other islands is stunning, though quite a lot of the time since we got here it's been mist-shrouded. Yes, once again we're on an English holiday when the weather is unseasonably grim.
The name means "The Sun Isles"' to which this week I say "hah!". But it's not the worst place to have bad weather, and it's not unrelentingly bad. We went for an almighty yomp on neighbouring Tresco yesterday and despite the walk back to the return boat being in drenching rain I managed to get a typically me red face from the sun.
The forecast says better weather for the next few days, so nature walks, boat trips to see seabird colonies and the occasional evening pint in an 'off island' pub should still be on the agenda.
This is an amazing place. The islands are so small they mess with your sense of scale - everything is closer than you think, and there are only 2000 permanent residents, so even with the tourists there's never any sense of a crowd. The climate is pretty much unique in the British Isles, so you see a combination of flora different than anywhere else, and the wildlife is astonishingly unfazed by people. And every corner throws up a new gorgeous vista.
We're already talking about a return visit, and we almost never do that.