England!

 The North West corner of Spain was an unintended stop. Waiting in the Azores for wind to sail to England was hardly a chore: that meant longer in the Portuguese Mid-Atlantic islands that charmed us with their friendly welcome, impressive scenery and tasty local food. But after a while, we were keen to get to England. Those plans were upturned, however, by uncooperative winds; and so we took what God sent us, and said, "Watch out Spain, here we come!"  And after a really enjoyable passage to Spain, we had done a favourite thing: we turned a negative into a positive. The lands and rivers of Galicia were a surprisingly beautiful bonus that rewarded us for our flexibility.

While in the Azores several folks told us not to miss the Isles of Scilly. Our plan had been to sail to Falmouth; but here came more serendipity. Why not make landfall instead in the Wilsonian Scillonians?  And so here we are, after a three day passage from Spain, and below are Nancy's portraits of another bonus!

St Mary's Harbour, Hugh Town: and the Mermaid awaits you at the top of the steps!

And inside the Mermaid, what is an exiled Limey doing? A pint of bitter and fish and chips, of course! 

The boathouse and ramp in the background are the "old style" home and launching ramp for the St Mary's life boat.

 Nancy is bemused by the 20 foot tide....

 

 ....and the flowers in the cottage gardens.

 

 

 Now it is almost low tide....

 

 

 ..and Nancy is wondering if we will be able to walk back to the boat?

 

 Meanwhile the flowers remind us of the Azores....

 

 

 ...but the boats high and dry tell us that we are in the British Isles.

 

 

 

 

 

 Now the tide is completely out: look up five pictures and you will see that the stern of the blue motorboat was still wet!

 

 

 There is something both fascinating yet forlorn about boats stranded on the shore.

 

 

Most of the floating dinghy docks are firmly planted ashore. We may be new to all this tidal trouble: but that is our dinghy strategically moored five hours earlier at the far end of the third pontoon, now still afloat at low tide albeit on only 8 inches of water!

 

 

 

Best, Nancy and John