Scilly idea

"A week is a long time in politics."
Harold Wilson

We packed and headed off to Newquay airport for our 9am flight to St. Mary in the Isles of Scilly. Even though it's an internal flight our check-in was 8am so we went to the airport for breakfast, a bacon and sausage bap in the departure lounge which was marginally bigger than our home sitting room. Such a contrast to the usual international airport - which this is, a flight took off for Spain as we arrived. Our flight by contrast was slightly smaller - seven of us on board an Islander aircraft including the pilot - whose shoulder we could look over to check he was heading the right direction. They even weighed some of the passengers checking baggage and total weight - we were ok, only going for the day so other passengers used our baggage allowance. As we were flying at only 4,000 feet the views were spectacular, the crinkly Cornish coastline laid out below and soon we saw the Scillies in the distance. The flight was about half an hour and the landing was something else, it all felt so immediate as we could see everything over the pilot's shoulder. Another lovely, sunny day and we headed straight for the quayside to get a ferry across to Tresco to visit the Abbey gardens. The walk from the landing point was quite surreal - it's so quiet and so few people around, with occasional stops to admire local souvenirs for sale laid out carefully on stone walls or rocks with honesty boxes for payment. The gardens were of course superb, with terraces and walks studded with sculpture focal points for added interest, so glad we came. Time passed quickly, we were due to catch the 2.15 return boat to ensure we got our flight back to the mainland so we didn't hang about. Back on St. Mary we mooched around Hugh Town and its' beaches to get a feel for the place, including a stopover for a late lunch at the only cafe with any Cornish pasties left on a Saturday afternoon. Our return flight was on board a 19-seater Twin Otter, bigger than this morning but we could still look over the pilot's shoulder into the cockpit.
Our overnight stay is at a shepherds hut on the edge of Bodmin moor, where our host has left us a lovely cream tea to welcome us. So cosy inside it's brilliant, not much space of course but enough for us to wind down after our day's travels over onto the islands.