An English Summer 42

A gaff cutter, of Breton origins, to judge by her sheer, hugs the coast. As closely as the jutting headlands and rearing islets, of this most rugged of shores, permit.

I am on the coast path. Above Stony Porth. Looking out, across St May's Sound, the green dome of St Agnes, marks the division, between sea and sky, on the horizon.

Looking back, Stargazer seems to be anchored with no protection to seaward. The spring tide at its height, submerging the reef, which is her breakwater.

The Penennis Head lighthouse, on its latticework legs, alerts seafarers, to the perils of the craggy promontory, after which it is named. This was to have been Stargazer's landfall, on the Isles of Scilly, until our early arrival, before dawn, and the northerly tidal set, caused us to revise our plans and to enter from the north.

The path has climbed steadily, all the way from Porth Cressa to Peninnis Head. Now it swoops down toward Old Town. One time principal port, and capital, of the island. Cubist granite boulders, incised with ruler straight clefts and fissures, line the entrance to Old Town Bay.

A crescent of silver sand adorns its head.

Whilst the grisled grey monolith of Carn Leh, an ancient outpouring of the earth's magma heart, acts as day mark.

It erupts from a promontory, richly cloaked, in a dense green mantle of bracken and scrub. Escaped nasturtiums, naturalised and wild, clamber toward the sun, in a burst of burning orange.

In the cottage gardens of Old Town, nature is given a helping hand, and the cultivation of colour is taken to new heights.

With an eclectic twist, of nautical practicality, added in those fronting the slip way.

A place to pause. To revel in this technicolour assault on the senses.

PS: Of Bandwidth and Posting Times. . . . .

Full internet connectivity returned in the late evening yesterday, and I was able to post around 21.00. When I looked out, across St Mary's Road, this morning (toward Tresco and Bryher) and saw that the anchored liner was gone, I thought that was the explanation, for the improved situation. Not so though! Today, once again, whilst signal showed as full strength, no internet connectivity was to be had, from around 10.00 onward. The problem seems to be bandwidth overload. Too many people, like myself, trying to use data signal, in the core hours of the day. The solution? I will switch to posting around 21.00 daily, for a while.