How long will that take I enquired?
Well if we go at 10.15 we can be back around 4. She replied.
Now I don't mind the occasional trip to the supermarket but one of over five hours is stretching it a bit.
Isn't that rather a long while to spend looking for groceries I asked?
She cottoned on
Not Tesco, Tresco she said.
Turns out Tresco is another one of the Silly Isles. In fact it's the second largest of the islands. No cars other than a few service vehicles. We visited the renowned gardens and they were exceptional on many different levels. There were a number of native red squirrels. Apparently the savage invasive grey squirrels haven't made it to the islands yet. We also saw a very colourful bird that looked like a pheasant and which was very tame, as were sparrows which would eat out of your hands.
The weather was pretty appalling for the first hour or so and we had to seek shelter at the pub until it cleared and we could start our walk.
The trip to the island was a bit hairy with quite a bit of listing and swaying around on a small boat. On the way back one guy sitting outside got soaked when a wave sloshed over. That reminds me of a funny incident when I was a young boy. Myself and my parents were being rowed across the Thames to Battersea Funfair. There was wash caused by a motorboat and the guy rowing shouted duck to which my father said where just as a wave caught and soaked him.
Don't you just love a language where a word can have two or more very different meanings? Somebody said the the other day "Your In for a good day" which sounded just like "Urine for a good day".
Yesterday I said I would find out who Hugh was that the capital of St Mary's was named after. Well sadly there's no Hugh. The word Hugh comes from the old English word How meaning a promontory or raised ground. That's how Plymouth Hoe got its name as well.
At breakfast we spoke to John who has been coming to the Scillies (I think I know them well enough now to call them by their nicknames) for the best part of 50 years.
The last time we were here we found the grave of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson. John actually remembers Harold Wilson in Hugh Town, wandering down to the newsagents to get his morning paper. It must be strange picking up a newspaper when the likelihood is that you will be featured in it. John couldn't remember which paper Wilson read. The PM loved the Scillies because everyone knew who he was but nobody bothered him.
Last time we were on St Mary's, it was as part of a cruise round the British Isles and we couldn't get into town until Prince Charles and Camilla had passed through. Apparently this time Prince William, Kate and the kids were staying on Tresco, presumably in the Abbey there which was built by Augustus Smith. We didn't see them which didn't surprise us, but apparently othere visitors have seen them playing on the beach.
I took heaps of photographs of our day. Hope you enjoy some of them.