I have kayaked in the Scillies 3 times before with Mark Meardon of Paddle Cornwall, and always enjoyed the experience. When I received an email with details of a trip in May 2025 I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go again. For my first 2 trips I had gone on my own and joined others for the week, but in 2022 I had persuaded my son, George, to accompany me, as I knew he would love it. That time we were joined by a couple and the 4 of us had a glorious week in the sun with Mark, paddling some quite long distances untroubled by rain or wind – this time the weather didn’t look as good, and we received an email warning of adverse conditions for the Scillonian crossing on the Monday, but we set off undaunted.
As it turned out the crossing on the Scillonian was not as bad as feared – sick bags were widely available but I didn’t see any used, unlike the second time I had gone on this trip when everyone seemed to be making use of them! I stayed outside in the hope of seeing a whale or two (none this time, but I have had a fleeting glimpse in the past). We popped into the Co-op in St Mary’s quickly on arrival and had a quick chat with the shop assistant who turned out to have grown up in Lewdown. She has been working in St Marys for 12 months, sleeping in a tent in the summer, and a shed in the winter. Staff accommodation on the Scillies is scarce!
The ferry to St Martins was extremely full and very rocky in the swell, especially coming out of St Mary’s harbour. As usual the campsite owners collected the luggage in a trailer behind their tractor, and took it back to the campsite whilst we caught up with Mark.
Mark bases himself at the campsite from April through to July (ish) and takes out groups kayaking around the islands each week. He has weekends off once groups head back to St Marys on the Saturday, before starting all over again on the Monday. Mark’s wife Anna often stays on the island too, as she can work remotely, and looks after their dog, but during half term dogs are banned from the campsite because of the influx of visitors, especially children, so we didn’t meet Anna this time. Anna deals with all the details in the background, and they make a great team.
Mark has been kayaking all of his life, alongside all other sorts of water based activities, and is an excellent instructor. He quietly supports visitors of all abilities, gently encouraging everyone out of their comfort zone so that we can go home a bit more capable than when we arrived, whether in terms of kayaking, navigation, reading the tides and the winds etc. His experience in the area meant that I was 100% confident that he would ensure our safety and we were happy to kayak wherever he suggested each day, making the most of the conditions.
The wind on our first day was steady, and there was some white caps, but Mark was keen that we at least got into the kayaks and ventured out. George and I were the only guests booked in for the week, and Mark was happy that we were both relatively strong kayakers (i.e. not complete beginners) as we had kayaked with him before, so he was confident that we could cope with the conditions. Even so, we did not go far, battling over to a small island, Tean, before a small walk to the top, and a paddle back
Unfortunately I had caught what appeared to be Covid and so was not as fit as usual. Being outside was helpful, but my coughing at 2.30am every night must have been frustrating for other campers. I had also made the mistake of only bringing a very small (child’s) self inflating mattress to sleep on, which wasn’t up to much – I was very grateful when, after 2 nights, George suggested we swapped and I use his much deeper, more comfortable mattress.
Gale force winds were forecast for the Tuesday so we decided this would be our non kayaking day. George and I used the day to explore some more of St Martins, walking from the campsite at Lower Town, up the one road to Higher Town, before heading around the headland on one of the sandy paths to the Daymark, where we nearly got blown away!
Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day, made for a lovely trip out to Tresco. We headed out on the calmer waters around Tean, towards St Helens. We used the protection of Goldenball to head west, as there was still some big swell coming in from the Atlantic. We attached the kayaks to a buoy in the harbour at Tresco, and enjoyed pizzas in the sunny Ruin beach cafe gardens, with a beer/glass of cava.
After lunch we took a walk around the island, visiting the two castles – King Charles castle was built on the top of the headland, but cannons failed to reach enemy boats coming through the strait between Tresco and Bryher, so this was replaced by the round Cromwell’s castle in 1651. In the background, near to Bryher is Hangman’s island.
We had wondered about visiting the famous gardens on Tresco in the afternoon, but instead enjoyed kayaking alongside the island, in the shallow clear waters at low tide, looking at the vegetation and wildlife.
When I had kayaked before I had particularly loved the trip out to the Eastern Isles, where the seals make their home, so I was happy to do this trip on the Thursday, even if it meant a difficult paddle home in the South Westerly winds. Unfortunately the lovely sun of the day before had largely disappeared so the day was greyer than in 2022 when we had paddled before, and the seals were not as keen to play as they had been then either. We did see a few however, in one particular bay, and it is always fun to have them suddenly popping their heads up right behind you
We sheltered at Nornour within a bronze age settlement, out of the wind, for lunch, and then made our way back to St Martins, for dinner. It was a long paddle into the wind, and we sheltered at the harbour at High Town on the way, for a break. I realised how my confidence paddling had grown over the week, now not so nervous in the kayak, and much more able to use the skeg to keep straight. Waves breaking over the spray deck hadn’t fazed me at all.
We were booked into the Seven Stones pub again, thanks to Anna, after eating at Adam’s fish and chips the night before. The outdoor living and exercise meant that food was a big focus on the trip, and the pub being just around the corner from the campsite was very handy. We were limited on baggage allowance for the flight home (see later!) and so had decided not to bring cooking facilities to the campsite. Mark was very generous with hot water for cups of tea!
On our final day of kayaking we paddled across to Bryher, after stretching our legs on a sandbank. We walked around Bryher, stopping at the very well stocked shop for pasties, and back via the campsite. Our tent on St Martins was very well sheltered from the wind by high hedges, whereas the Bryher campsite was exposed to the sea on both the west and east, and so would, presumably, have been a bit windier
From Bryher we paddled to Samson, an uninhabited island. When I have been to Samson before we have been the only ones on the small island, but this time there were families with sailing boats, dinghies and kayaks, all apparently enjoying the half term break. Our campsite was very busy too, with lots of children, not all of whom appeared to be so happy to be there – on the wet Tuesday night the whole campsite listed to the anguish of one child shouting at their parents, questioning why they thought it was a good idea to bring them to such a wet, damp and sandy place on their precious week’s half term break, and demanded to be taken home at once.
For dinner on our last night we went to the 4 star Karma hotel, next to the Lower Town quay. We sat outside whilst waiting for our order, in the beautiful gardens with the view back towards Tean and Tresco. Perhaps next time I come I will stay here instead of camping…
Saturday was a little foggy and cloudy to start with and we had to pick the tent up whilst it was still wet. The ferry to take us to St Mary’s was due to leave Higher Town quay at 10.45, so the bags were collected by tractor and trailer at 9am and transported up the road for us, ready for loading onto the ferry.
We said goodbye to Mark and sailed back to St Marys. After a little stroll around Hugh Town, I dozed looking over the harbour whilst George investigated all the bees buzzing around the flowers right in front of us – I don’t think we have ever seen so many as we saw throughout the Scillies, even when we were on the water.
After a light lunch in a pub with a view over the harbour we collected our bags from the quay. We were booked on a flight back to Lands End from the airport, which I had never been to before. We decided to forego the taxis and walk, which proved to be quite a long way with all our bags, and the sun now shining. Nevertheless it was nice to see more of St Marys, passing Old Town, and it was only a mile and half…
When booking the Scillonian and the flight home I had noted the difference in luggage allowance – 20kg per person on the way out, 15kg on the way back. We had taken quite a lot of snacks and had hoped we would somehow ‘lose’ some of the weight for our return, but we still exceeded the luggage allowance. The notes advised that £6/kg was charged for extra weight so potentially we could be charged an extra £60 for 10kg extra, if we were even able to get the bags on our flight. As it turned out 2 children were part of the 12 passengers on the plane, which may have contributed to the relaxed check-in – we were advised that the extra weight was not a problem, and that we wouldn’t be charged extra.
We loved the flight back to Lands End, especially as we were able to see all of St Martins as we flew away from St Marys. We were back in Lands End in no time (20 minutes, compared to the 2 hours 45 minutes on the Scillonian). We were transferred back to Penzance train station by minibus and then collected by the car parking operator for transfer back from there to collect our car.
Once I had driven home I collapsed into a lovely hot bath for a while before crashing out into bed, absolutely exhausted from the trip.