Scillonian Sailing

The morning we left Penzance, we had to be up early. The Youth Hostel was only 10 minutes drive from the quay, but we had to be there by 7am. I had loaded as much as possible into the car the night before after we had carefully packed the things we needed to take and everything else that would be left behind in the car. We drove the short distance and I dropped Summer and Racheal off with our luggage before driving to the parking area back near the hostel. A minibus picked up the car drivers to return us to the quay. Meanwhile, Racheal was having a picnic breakfast. We had kept our packing to the minimum, being very careful not to go over the 20kg per piece weight limit and then it wasn’t weighed! We did have Racheal’s smaller chair as a free extra because her Treki wouldn’t fit in the cottage we were renting.

There are three ways to get to Scilly - plane, helicopter or the ferry- Scillonian III. Neither of the options to travel by air are accessible, which left us with the boat. Apparently it can be a choppy ride, but we were fortunate to have calm seas. Once on board, a lift took us down to the upper, covered deck where we found comfortable seating in the cafe area. It was fun to watch the crane load the cargo which included a number of large crates containing passengers’ luggage and supplies for the islands, and a small car which was stowed in the hold. The journey was nearly 3 hours with good views of Cornwall for the first hour. After that we looked out for whales and dolphins, but didn’t see any. The cafe provided something to pass the time, both enjoying a second breakfast and people watching.

We were also quite excited to find an accessibility feature that we had not encountered before - an audio description in the disabled toilet! This is just a snippet.

https://video.wixstatic.com/https://video.wixstatic.com/video/d19798_fb58a51bd6424d5d923be92c54a4e404/file

As we approached the islands we could see the Eastern Isles and coast of St Mary’s before rounding Peninnis Head. Then we passed between St Agnes and The Garrison to get to the quay in Hughtown, excited for the next part of our gap year adventures.

Our cottage was only a short walk so we set off to find it, leaving some of our luggage to be delivered later by Island Carriers. Despite having been told by the letting agent that our cottage would be ready when we arrived the cleaners were still busy, so once we had attended to Racheal’s personal care we went to eat our picnic in a small park nearby. When we returned to the cottage an hour or so later, we were able get settled in. Part of this process always involves putting up Racheal’s fairy lights! A wander in the small town, including a visit to the Co-op to get food for tea, completed our arrival day.

We couldn’t get Racheal’s Treki through the gate without taking the wheels off, let alone in the tiny cottage! While we were exploring the shops in Hughtown, we got chatting to a lady who lived round the corner from where we were staying. She kindly lent us a patio table cover so we could keep the Treki outside without it getting wet.