A new country – England – and we sailed to the Isles of Scilly

From France we sailed over the English channel to England. It was hard to know where we arrived, but had a plan to arrive around Plymouth. We had to check into UK online and there you need to tell where you are coming, and when…. You know, when you are sailing it is hard to know when and where.

But after a long ride we arrived in Cawsand, some nm from Plymoth. This village was on my “TODOLIST” together with many other beautiful places on the southcoast of England.

We took the dinghy ashore and went for a hike to Cremyll. Cawsand is a beautiful small village with some small shops, restaurants and a beach.

Narrow streets with flowers.

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Up in the hill we could see back to the bay where we anchored.

A good path almost all the way.

And after a while we got a nice view to some farms.

St.Mary`s and St. Julian`s church.

From the church we walked downhill again.

So green and lush! Beautiful landscape to walk through. Almost like home in Norway!

And we got the view towards Plymouth.

Our first place to explore was Mount Edgcumbe. This is a place of ancient barrows, mystical woodland, forts and chapels dotted along a remote coastline, above secret beaches and smugglers coves.

You will find a restaurant/cafe (we didn`t try it) and a small museum.

They told us about timber and had a photo of Urnes Stave Church, which lies not far from our hometown in Norway!

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Walking through the garden to Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park.

A beautiful place!

The House was built between 1547 and 1550 to a revolutionary design for that period, built to look outwards for the views rather than be inward facing.

It is possible to join a guided trip inside the castle, but it was closed at the time we were there.

We went to Edgcumbe Arms to have lunch. All prices are higher here than in Spain and Portugal so we ended up sharing one portion of fish and chips. It was a big portion so it was enough for lunch.

Here in Cremyll you can take a ferry over to Plymoth.

Our next stop was at Mount Edgcombe the Gardens.

This garden is really worth a stop! And still late in August there is so much flowers!

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Almost no people around so it was so relaxing walking around.

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These shell was brought to England by Captain Cook after one of his journeys. He was famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular.

The trail was good and the weather was still okay. On the way back it was not much sun, we walked through the forrest.

Came back a bit closer to the sea than when we started this hike. This field is very popular for dogs!

Back to Kingsand/Cawsand! It is two small villages together.

Here you can buy an icecream! But it was too expencive for us!

Here is our track:

Here is a video from this beautiful hike:

How did we find this gorgeous place?? We have followed Cadoha Adventures since before we started our journey, and for me this is the best sailing Youtube-channel! They are only sailing on the southern coast of England, but there are so many nice places in that area. I really hoped we could see more of the places they are talking about, but not this time!

When you have to be at home within a date you need to check the weather forcast all the time. At this moment we had two choices. One – sail further east to get shelter from the bad weather, or Two – sail to Isle of Scilly while it is less wind. We knew that if we sailed further east we would use one more week instead of continue to the west/north. So even if we wanted to see more of the southern part of England we decided to sail west towards the Isle of Scilly.

And what a place!! We heard that this was like Bahamas, but you don`t believe it before you are there. The biggest problem for us is the big differense between low and high tide. So it was hard to find a good place to anchor. We started from the mainland early afternoon and we arrived in Isles of Scilly next afternoon. Isles of Scilly is a group of many small islands with a huge lagoon between the islands. We decided to visit and explore the island of Tresco and took the dinghy over to that island.

Isles of Scilly was also on my “TODOLIST” for this journey. I don`t remember when and how I heard about this islands, I think it is some years ago. I am so happy that we manage to come here, because this is on of the most beautiful places we have been to!!

And we could eat blackberries as much as we wanted!

What a nature! It was stunning views everywhere!

And the purple heather made it even more beautiful!

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We walked around south side of the island and arrived at Abbey Garden. Do you like flowers? Take a trip here! It is amazing!! You can travel to Isles of Scilly with boat, plane or helicopter from the mainland.

A red scuirrel showed up! (take a look at the video to see more of it)

Augustus Smith established Tresco Abbey Garden in the 19th century around the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey. Today, the garden is a sanctuary for some 2,000 specimens from across the southern hemisphere and subtropics, from Brazil to New Zealand; Myanmar to South Africa.

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The best time to visit this garden is April or May, but still in August it was beautiful!

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Pumpkin!

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Now I know how to use all my shells!

Relaxing in the sun!

An older bench…

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The only ruins left after the Benedictine Abbey.

Flowers can grow everywhere.

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Inside the garden you will find Valhalla Figurehead Museum, which tell you about all the shipwrecks laying around the islands here.

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The figurehead of Rosherville.

The London-registered brig caught fire off the islands in 1855, while returning from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, with a cargo including rice, beer and brandy. Some was saved before it went ashore at Pendrathen, on St.Mary`s. This ship was once thought to have been French, but took its name from the popular Rosherville pleasure gardens, built near Gravesend, Kent, in the early 19th century. The figurehead may represent Jeremiah Rosher, whose family owned the land, but this is far from certain.

These are all outside so it is included in the ticket to the garden.

Nameboard from the Flora

This nameboard is traditionally thought to have come from a ship wrecked on Guthers Rock, south of St Martin`s in 1853. However, there is no record of a Flora wrecked in the islands and identification is not helped by the popularity of the name.

I took this photo because our municipality back home in Norway, was called Flora before it changed to Kinn some years ago.

This is really worth a visit! I wish I could be back in the spring, but at this time of the year (August) it is less crowdy here.

You will find a shop and a cafe here. We sat down for a snack before walking further on!

We continue our hike on the western side of the island.

The view towards New Grimsby.

In New Grimsby we found a small supermarket and a post office.

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On the way to the eastern side of the island, and Old Grimsby, we passed by this church, St.Nicolas Church.

Inside the church.

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On all the benches there were cushions made by the locals many years ago.

A keltic cross outside the church.

What a job!! (it is shell)

Old Grimsby

Some people/kids were swimming, but I think it is too cold for me!

I haven`t seen this before! It is a gunnera tinctoria (I think). I have gunnera in my garden in Norway but I haven`t had flowers on it. (or what it is)

The church from the other side.

I have been to Bahamas and I can tell you this looks like Bahamas!

What a place!

As always – we should have had more time here. But now we have been here and it is possible to come back!

A video from this beautiful island:

After visiting Tresco we sailed over to the biggest island,
St.Mary`s where we took a mooring bouy. We took the dinghy ashore to explore the island in the afternoon.

It was already 6 PM so we didn`t had much time. We had decided to sail
further north the next day.

St.Mary`s is a bit bigger than Tresco, and so the village is also bigger. More shopping and restaurants.

We followed a trail on the western peninsula. Here is King Charles` Battery,
which was built in the 1740`s.

The trail was easy to find and it was a lovely evening.

The Coast Artillery Searchlight, built around 1900.

There is a wall around the peninsula. You can walk on both sides, but if you walk on the outside it is not easy to find the way through the wall.

The rebuilding of the Garrison walls ended here, following the end of the war with France in 1748. War broke out again in 1756, but money for defence works was spent on the mainland and in British colonies worldwide. The Garrison walls were thought sufficiently complete to resist attack.