Scilly Walks 1 - St Mary's Garrison
Obviously, no one’s going to the Fortunate Isles at present. Indeed, on last night’s BBC regional news I heard the Isles of Scilly have succumbed to the dreaded Covid. But the islands remain heavenly - and they offer some of the best walking anywhere - so I am going to put a few Scillonian hikes up here in a bid to keep people cheerful and show what will hopefully soon be available - if you’re ever fortunate enough to travel 28 miles west of Land’s End.
I walked the walks and wrote the words years ago while on my regular travels to the archipelago - and did this one alone cold winter’s evening… It’s not the greatest Scillonian hike (not by far) but it is the one I’d do if I only had a couple of hours in the islands - a thing which has happened to me more than once on my journalistic travels.
Nor, as it happens, are these my best Scillonian photographs - far from it - they were almost all taken in dark winter light. But I wanted somehow to show that the Scillies are always magical, even outside the sunny months of the year.
St Mary’s Harbour in the gloaming one December evening
A winter’s evening in St Mary’s, and barely a soul moved save for one old man who watched the sun as it began to sink over Bishop’s Rock Lighthouse. He turned to me as I passed by and remarked: “Strange light. You never see this light on Scilly. It must be something to do with the east wind.”
I was glad he said it, for I too had never seen a gloaming quite like this before in the islands. It was a glowering, sullen, light – the sort of glow you expect might to see on the east coast of Scotland rather than in the far-flung Fortunate Isles.
I love to visit the West Country’s archipelago in winter. It is empty, and it is full of surprises. Somehow the island landscape – or rather, the effect the islands have on your soul – reaches deeper at this time of year.
The last light of a winter’s day reflects on windows in St Marys
A friend who was taking me to dinner seemed aghast that I should choose to walk in such an icy gloaming but, having driven west all afternoon and then having flown down from Newquay on the excellent Skybus, I was in the mood for a stroll no matter how cold or brief.
My walk took me around the south-west corner of the island. That includes Hugh Town, the harbour, the massive Garrison peninsula and back to Porthcressa Beach at the rear of the town.
The walk takes an hour, so it really does make for an ideal pre-dinner promenade. To find the start you must wander west towards the end of Hugh Town's main street and turn left in front of the chemist's shop. You'll see a phone-box standing guard over a steep lane - and up this, passing through the old garrison gateway, you must go.
Looking south west over St Marys Harbour up to The Garrison
The Garrison Gateway on a cold winter evening
There is a footpath that more-or-less hugs the coastline around the garrison, and to find this take the first right after you pass the little gatehouse cottage. A track takes you diagonally down the hill and passes Store House Battery (where I met the man who remarked upon the evening light) and King Charles' Battery with its splendidly remounted canon.
From here I found a path that climbed the hill up to Star Castle so that I could enjoy sweeping panoramas of the islands in the gloaming light. Star Castle is now a hotel, but it was built as an impregnable fortress back in 1593 and gets its name from the shape of its eight-sided central keep, curtain wall and dry moat.
Just to the right of the castle you’ll see a campsite and just right of this a footpath branches right and takes you down to Steval Point Battery, which marks the island's most westerly point. You’ll enjoy fabulous views over to St Agnes and distant, lonely Bishop Rock every step of the way.
Star Castle - at The Garrison, St Marys
St Mary's has every right to be proud of its Garrison. Indeed the place is deemed to be of national importance "for the complexity and survival of its fortifications, representing successive periods of raiding, hostility and war."
Star Castle - The Garrison
So says English Heritage's leaflet which goes on to explain the Garrison's history from Elizabethan times, through the Civil War years (it became the last Royalist stronghold), and the Spanish Wars of the 18th century. It was further upgraded and used between 1890 and 1910 when there was talk of a war with France and in both the First and Second World Wars.
View looking North East from The Garrison
From Steval Point the walk becomes level and easy as you stroll along the wide path just inside the great granite walls. First you pass Colonel George Boscawen's Battery, then Bartholomew Battery, next there's Woolpack Battery at the southerly tip, and eventually you head back to Hugh Town past Morning Point Battery.
The path now becomes wooded, quite unlike the wild western slopes of the Garrison. Upon reaching town you'll notice imposing Hugh House looming large and grey just inside the walls. It used to be an officers' mess, but now houses the island headquarters of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The Scillonian turns for St Marys one spring morning - as seen from The Garrison
Next there's Porthcressa Beach and the town. The island’s coast path winds its way past here, down the long and scenic peninsula to the lighthouse at the point and inland above Piper's Hole which is a bay richer in fantastically sculpted rocks than any other I know. Indeed, Pulpit Rock is one of the most extravagant piles of granite that I have seen on my West Country travels.
Another winter view from The Garrison on another day
But last week it was too dark to wander around those handsome ramparts, so I repaired to the Mermaid Inn and waxed lyrical to some bemused Scillonians about the unique and glowering light that had, for a few minutes, bathed the islands in its eerie glow.
St Marys main-street in winter
And just so you can see St Mary’s in non-winter mode - here’s lovely Porthcressa Beach in Spring
Fact File
Martin Hesp flew to the Scillies on Skybus which, at this time of year has departures from Land's End and Newquay – Exeter is added in season. For more information phone: 0845 7105555.
Information on St Mary's walks, accommodation bookings, etc can be gained from the Isles of Scilly Tourist Information Centre - Tel: 01720 422 536.
The beach at St Marys Harbour on a winter’s day
