Saturday 21 July 2012

St.Martin's - More photos


With our Camp Managers - thanks for a great time!
We back on the mainland now and have a strong 3G signal - can see the mast from our motorvan!
So here are a few of the photos giving an idea of life on St.Martin's.

Great news – the weather has picked up and although we've had heavy rain overnight or part of the day, overall it's been sunny though feels colder in the wind.
IoS Weather Ratings
Day     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Rating 610  4  8  5  6  5  6  5   9   5   6   5   7 10   7   7   9   9   9   8   5   6   8   8   6   7   8

Exotic flowers!
Lovely garden flowers are everywhere



Cromwell's Gun Tower on the Island of Tresco - taken on a great day's walking there!


Gunners' view up the Sound

Window from the Island Church depicting St.Martin dividing his cloak for a needy man



Quiz question - what is this and it's use?

An unusual shot of the bow of the Scillonian III

Ferry across the Atlantic (a bit of it anyway!) - back to Penzance and terra firma

We are now on the mainland and at a Caravan and Camping Holiday Site in St.Ives.

And - the sun is shining - hooray!




Tuesday 10 July 2012

St.Martin's - seals and sun!

I had a problem loading last night - wifi here is intermittant!
Anyway, here are my weather ratings so far this camp!

IoS Weather Ratings
Day     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Rating 6 10   4   8   5   6   5   6   5   9   5   6   5   7 10   7   7   9   9   9

Hopefully the spacing will be OK - anyway, you'll get the drift as we have had 7 sunny days on our tiime here so far. It's just rained!
Good camoflauge!
This post has pics of our great boat trip around the Eastern Isles to see the seals. We also got to see a couple of gannets, a peregrine which nests on Ragged Island, razor bills aplenty and a school of porpoises.
Chris lookng out for seals


The sun has been very bright on the few sunny days making photography via our little Sanyo camera a challenge. Also, the camera video sequences taken don't seem to transfer well to the blog. Here I am holding the side of the boat as we rolled and pitched our way aroud the north islands towards Round Island, where there is an automatic lighthouse, established in 1887.  










Anton at sea

Round Island Lighthouse

It is said that the youngsters take a boat through the gap!!




Sunday 8 July 2012

St.Martin's - rocks and run!

We've been camped on the island for 2 weeks plus now. Inevitably, the talk has been about the weather – apparently the worst summer for very many years!
Here is my weather rating chart so far. The rating doesn't indicate the enjoyment of each day which has been very high, rather the weather conditions we are experiencing. We've adapted our activities to suit?!

Our new, bigger tent has been an advantage on rainy/misty days as we are dry and warm with plenty of head room. Rain largely equals reading and both Chris and I have read a number of books (an enjoyable though infrequent activity for me – they have been about railways and canal builders though! Now onto Bryson's Shakespeare.)
Home for a month!
Campsite from the main road!





Heather and gorse on the tops

Campsite Beach

St.Martin's is relatively big which is giving me a great area to run over, with stunning views. I have been running every 2/3 days with some swimming in between.
The area is a gritstone base with heather and gorse and grass tracks making running an absolute delight.

Top rock - a scramble to the top! L.H. Outcrop.


My running routes take in some rock scrambling and a longer ridge run upto the DayMark. This was built in 1683 and originally painted white and it is said all red before the red/white stripes.


A good climb and a scramble to the Day Mark @ 47m












The Day Mark viewed from the ruins of the old Napoleonic Signal Station.

However, it was supposedly mistaken for the St.Agnes Lighthouse (further SW and built in 1680), an event recored on a small gravestone St.Martin's Church yard – see photo – which is given a date of 1830. The 'Hope' is one of many hundreds of ships to have foundered on the Scilly rocks [the latest being the container ship the 'Cita' in 1998].

Gravestone in Churchyard