South West Isles of Scilly with Acklams Coaches - July 2024

[Eleanor]

Off the coast of Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly have been on my todo list for a long time. Most people do them as a day trip from Penzance, which only gives you about four hours on St Mary’s, which isn’t very long considering the boat takes nearly three hours each way...

When my local coach company was advertising a four night break on St Mary’s, I jumped at the opportunity. The only downside is that it is a long way from North Lincolnshire and would need an overnight each way.

Day 1

I was picked up at 6am to be taken to Doncaster Services which Acklams Coaches were using as their feeder point. We made a couple of quick stops in service areas on our way to our overnight at the Holiday Inn Express Bodmin - Victoria Junction. It was raining nearly all the way there and raining when we arrived about 3pm. It is on a service area on the A30, so there isn’t a lot to do from the hotel. I ended up watching the men’s final at Wimbledon...

It is a large modern hotel and I had a very comfortable room with a huge bed. and large walk in shower. Windows were sealed so there was no traffic noise but even with air conditioning it did begin to feel stuffy and a bit claustrophobic. The evening meal was a self service buffet. We had a very early breakfast (usual selection and very good although there were only scrambled eggs and no fried eggs!)

 

[Eleanor]

Day 2

It was another early departure as we had to leave at 6.30 to be in Penzance to catch the ferry which leaves at 9.15.

We were dropped off by the ferry (in the rain) while the coach driver took the coach to the long stay park and caught the bus back. That took longer than expected and it was well past 8.30 by the time he got back. By then, we were the only passengers left waiting to board and he had our boarding cards!

It was still raining during the crossing with not much in the way of views, but fortunately was a fairly smooth crossing. By the time we approached the Scilly Isles the rain had cleared, although it was still cloudy so the sea looked muted shades of pale blue/grey rather than the deep blue of the pictures.

Landing at St Mary’s, we disembarked and had a ten minute walk to our hotel. Fortunately luggage was taken there for us.

We were staying at the Bell Rock Hotel on the edge of Hugh Town. It was a lovely old fashioned (in the nicest possible way) family run hotel with a lot of character.

I had a small double room on the first floor at the back of the hotel, with views of Buzza Tower. It was large enough for one but would have been a bit snug for two... It was spotlessly clean and very comfortable.

Staff were all locals and lovely, soon getting to know all the foibles of the different guests. The evening meals were varied and very good. Breakfast was equally as good with plenty of choice. This is probably one of the nicest hotels I’ve stopped at for a long time.

Check in was 3pm but we could leave bags in the lounge if we wanted to explore before then.

Hugh Town is small and built on a narrow strip of land with Town Beach on one side and Porthcressa Beach on the other. It only takes a few minutes walk to reach all part of it. First stop was Tourist Information overlooking Portcressor beach.

Staff, as always in Tourist Information Centres, were really helpful and full of advice. Having got my bearings and checked out details for finding the different places I wanted to see during the stay I set off to explore. Hugh Town is small and compact but very attractive with wide streets with narrower streets off. Visitors cannot bring cars to the islands although can hire bikes or electric buggies.

I love visiting different churches as you never know what to expect when you push open the door, so I also went into St Mary’s Parish Church and the Methodist Church. Both very diffent but both worth a look.

It was then time to check in, and I had time before dinner to go and find Harry’s Walls, the remains of mid C16th defences built to guard the new harbour against attack by the French and Spanish.

This was about half a mile along the coast from the hotel, although by now the sun had come out and it was turning very hot and felt a lot further than that! It can only be reached on foot, taking the footpath along the coast from the Porthmellon Gig Sheds.

It was a lovely walk with views of Porth Mellon beach and Thomas Porth.

Steep steps signed to Harry’s Walls the climbed up the hillside to the remains of the Fort.

It is a lovely site overlooking Hugh Town and Town Beach. The ground was covered with wild flowers and the scent was amazing. The tall standing stone is a Bronze Age menhir.

The fort was never finished. Money ran out and it was then found to be unsuitable as it didn’t provide the protection hoped for. Only the remains of two bastions and wall remain. I had the place to myself and it was great!

It was then time to return to Bell Rock Hotel and dinner.

 

[Eleanor]

Day 3

We had a mini bus tour of the island this morning. There are only about 5 miles of tarmacked roads on St Mary’s. The Community bus takes the same route, taking 17 minutes for the round trip. The tour took 90 minutes, but we did get a full commentary covering the history and geography of the islands, with several stops.

The first was on the road up to the Golf Course for the view across to Hugh Town built on the narrow strip of land beneath the Garrison Hill.

It was then up to Telegraph, the highest point of the island with Telegraph Tower built as a gun tower during the threat of invasion in the Napoleonic Wars. It was later used by the coast guard and was the place in 1898, where Guiglielmo Marconi heard one of the first radio transmissions transmitted from Porthcurno, thirty miles distant.

We then had a coffee stop at Carn Vean (need to fill out the time somehow!) I don’t usually 'do' coffee stops but really enjoyed this one. It is a lovely setting on a quiet road in the north of the island surrounded by trees, hedges and fields. They even have their own chickens. There was an excellent selection of homemade cakes and tray bakes - we were spoilt for choice but I eventually decided on the fruit cake eaten sitting in the garden.

Back in the mini bus, it was then back to Old Town and a stop along the side of the beach with views across to Old Town Church where Harold Wilson is buried.

We later saw the bungalow in Old Town where he lived in when on the island, before heading back to Hugh Town

In the afternoon, I decided to walk along Telegraph Road to Carreg Ddu Community Garden in the centre of the island. It is a small sub tropical garden in an old quarry and lovingly tended by volunteers.

It is a lovely spot and very peaceful with lots of house sparrows and thrushes which sat at my feet cheeping to be fed. They were out of luck - I didn't have anything for them.

I left at the far end of the gardens which took me onto a rough track leading back to Old Town for a visit to the Old Church . There were no signs so I pointed myself in what I hoped was the right direction...

The church is a lovely setting among the trees. It is the oldest church on the island but by the C19th was in a very poor state of repair. The Christmas Day service in 1831 ended in panic when slates from the roof fell onto the congregation... A new and larger church was built in Hugh Town which was much more convenient for the congregation. The Old Church was restored as a mortuary chapel as the grave yard was here. It still has services in the summer months.

Leaving Old Town, I climbed up over the hill towards Hugh Town, doing a detour to Buzza Tower. Fortunately I’d been given details how to find it from Tourist Information. Although it can be clearly seen, it isn’t sign posted and it isn’t obvious how to reach it! I took the track past the front of the hospital to pick up a very steep footpath which dropped down to Hugh Town. Buzza Tower is reached by a mown grass track off the footpath.

This was originally a windmill but was restored with seating round the base as a memorial to the visit Edward VII made to the islands in 1912. It was a Camera Obscura for a few years but that is now shut and the tower remains empty and a bit unloved.

Just a few yards below is the remains of Buzza Cairn, one of the Bronze Age Entrance Graves that are scattered across the Scilly Islands. Only the capstone remains surrounded by bracken. It is worth findingf or the views.

It was then time to return to the road and back to the hotel.

 

[Eleanor]

Day 4

I decided to spend the day visiting one of the other islands. St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association
run a regular daily service from the quay to the offshore islands. I decided to visit Tresco.

The first boat was due to leave at 10am so I was at the quay booking office in plenty of time to get a ticket. It was just as well as there was a long queue. The boats run on demand and as soon as one is full it sets off and another arrives. No-one gets left behind!

It was a lovely sail across to Tresco with views of the now deserted island of Sampson.

It was low water, so the boat landed at Carn Near Quay at the southern tip of the island.

I followed the concrete road across heathland covered with heather, bracken, wood sage and agapanthus

and past the lovely deserted Appletree Bay.

The road passes the Heliport which has regular flights from Penzance.

I followed the crowds to Tresco Abbey Gardens. These are huge with a network of paths. It would be very easy to get lost in them. They are justifiably one of the best gardens in the UK and the red squirrels were a bonus too.

There is no set route so I just wandered and enjoyed.

Afterr leaving the Abbey Gardens, I continued along the road to New Grimsby, the main settlement on the island and where the boat would pick me up later in the afternoon.

I had time to climb the road between New and Old Grimsby to visit the delightful St Nicholas Church set in its graveyard.

It was then time to head back to New Grimsby and the boat back to St Mary’s. It had been a lovely day and I’d really enjoyed it.

The hotel didn’t serve meals on a Wednesday night, so I headed to Kavorna Cafe and Take Away in Hugh Town to buy a steak pasty to eat in The Park. It was massive, very filling and very good!

 

[Eleanor]

Day 5

This was another bright and sunny day so I decided to take the Community Bus to Telegraph to explore the prehistoric remains at the north of the island.

From Telegraph, I took the unsigned footpath opposite the Tower which took me through the trees to the open headland, with views across to Tresco.

Bant’s Carn Entrance Grave was on top of the hill. Most of the earthen mound covering the capstone has now gone but it still preserves the kerb stone surrounding the mound.

Below is the Iron Age settlement of Halangy Down with the remains of interconnecting houses

Returning to Telegraph, I took MacFarland’s Down track towards the communication tower at the tip of the island, to pick up the coastal footpath.

From here a footpath to the right is signed Innisidgen, where there are two more Bronze Age Entrance Graves.

This is a lovely walk above the beach with views across to Tresco, St Martin’s and the tiny Eastern Isles.

Lower Innisidigen is reached first and is the less well preserved. Only two of the capstones remain and there is little left of the earthen mound that would have covered the grave.

The path climbs up to Upper Innisidgen which is probably the best preserved of the Entrance Graves found on the Scilly Islands. It still has its earthen mound surrounded by kerb stones and it is possible to enter the stone lined passageway into the grave.

It was then time to head back to Telegraph for the Community Bus back to Hugh Town. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and waited and waited and waited, until it was past the time for the bus to have got back to Hugh Town. I decided it couldn’t be running so set off to walk back. A few minutes later I saw the bus and flagged him down. The driver was very apologetic, he’s been at a council meeting that over run!

 

[Eleanor]

Day 6

Knowing this would be a short day as we were catching the ferry back to Penzance, I’d decided to spend it exploring Star Castle and Garrison Walls, on the headland over looking Hugh Town. These had been built in the late C16th to replace the unsuccessful Harry’s Walls.

The sunshine of the previous days had been replaced by low cloud that soon turned to mist hiding all the offshore islands. It did feel rather spooky!

It was a steep climb up to Garrison Gate.

Just inside is the old powder magazine, which has information about the site as well asa small prison cell next to it.

I took the footpath round the inside of the defensive walls which surround the headland with bastions and batteries, some still with cannons.

At Woolpack Point Battery, rather than continuing around the walls I took a footpath which climbed up through the bracken and took me to a track that led back across the island to Star Castle. In retrospect this was probably the wrong decision as the top is much less interesting with a huge private campsite, tennis court and a very rough grass football pitch with a sign proclaiming that Garrison Field is the home of the smallest football league in the world. There is access to the late C19th Woolpack Battery which is now looking overgrown and unloved.

The track continues past the new buildings of Star Castle Hotel and skirts round the impressive Star Castle surrounded by massive walls in the shape of an eight pointed star.

There are information panels about the Civil War in the entrance passageway. Stone steps lead up to the top of the walls which in clearer weather would have had wonderful views!

I had time to buy another pasty from the Kavorna Cafe and Take Away before heading to the Quay to check in for the ferry due to sail at 4.15. It was another calm crossing althougb with the low mist and cloud, we couldn’t see a thing.

It was about 8pm by the time we’d all disembarked, collected out bags and the coach driver had collected the coach to take us back to the Holiday Inn Extra where there was an excellent buffet meal waiting for us.

 

[Eleanor]

Day 7

It was a leisurely start this morning leaving at 10am. We stopped in Tewkesbury for a couple of hours, which allowed me time for a quick look round the abbey.

Near it is a row of early C15th houses that were built by the monks and rented out as a money making venture. This is now the home of the John Moore Museum and one of the houses has been lovingly restored to what it might have been like in the C15th with the shop at the front, kitchen behind with a workshop area and living quarters above.

Down a narrow alley way and also part of the Museum, is the Old Baptist’s Chapel which may be one of the earliest Baptist meeting houses in the country. The Baptists had met in secret in a merchant’s house until they were able to worship openly. The house was then turned into a chapel in 1720 with a baptistry in the floor and the original wood ceiling replaced by a domed roof as it had better acoustics. The chapel was in use until the 1980s. Both well worth visiting.

It was then back to Doncaster Services and the feeder minibus bringing me home.

Summary

It had been an excellent holiday and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay on the Scilly Islands. I would definitely have felt cheated if I’d only done them as a day trip from Penzance. I was very lucky with the weather as there is very little in the way of undercover ‘entertainment’. Even the museum on St Mary’s was shut at the moment undergoing a massive refurbishment.

I found plenty to do on St Mary’s, but you do need to be prepared to walk. I really enjoyed my day on Tresco and wish I could have had longer to have had time to visit the other islands.

There is a lot more detail and pictures in the Travel Articles I have written. The Isles of Scilly is very much an overview and impressions. Those for St Mary’s and Tresco give a much more in depth description of the history and things to do and see.