Arrival.

We're back home after a glorious weekend on the Isles of Scilly. Home to warm weather and the fresh green of new leaves as most of the trees awake from their winter slumber.

In order to be at Penzance by 5.30 our alarm went off at the unearthly hour of 2.00. All was going to plan until we reached the meeting place where we were to follow a fellow club member who knew the best route. He finally turned up half an hour late as his passenger was still in bed when he went to collect him. Then followed a rather fast 2 hour drive where the micra struggled to keep up with the much newer and faster lead car. We got to Penzance sort of on time and I handed over our luggage while Peter went off to park in the long stay car park. After a long wait a flustered Peter turned up having not been able to pay the parking fee. The meter wouldn't read his credit card and his phone kept cutting out as he tried to use the automatic system. Luckily he was able to get through using my phone but it wasn't a relaxing start to our voyage.

 I stayed out on deck to take some photos of St Michael's Mount and then joined Peter and others from the club in the bar/lounge. Many of our fellow passengers were asleep after their early starts. I expect that most of them would still have been in bed at 6.30 in the morning.

3 hours later the sun was shining and the islands had come into view.

The camp site is up on top of a hill but all the luggage from the ship is driven up and left in a pile for you to load on small trolleys and take it to your allotted space. This year our club was on the other side of the shower/kitchen block so it was a little further to walk to the ladies' showers but we didn't have to walk through anyone else's tents.  As we unpacked Peter realised he had left his club splash jacket at home and the chap who we had to wait for had forgotten his sleeping bag bought especially for the trip so he had to pay out for a new one in town. 

Clouds blow very quickly across the Scillies so the weather is quite changeable. By the time we had put up our tent, the big brown one, the day was looking very grey. I didn't even bother putting on my sunglasses thinking that it was the evening and would be getting dark soon. Really it was only 2 in the afternoon !

More about our trip tomorrow.