Isles of Scilly Guided Island Hopping Holiday

This is the second largest of the islands. Tresco and its garden are world-renowned and attract many visitors each year. We will see white sand beaches and a panorama of islands from the coastal path and explore the north of the island with its wild heathland, rocky coastlines and 16^th and 17^th century castles. There will be the chance to visit the Abbey Garden and to explore this collection of sub-tropical plants, and also to see the Valhalla museum – housing figureheads salvaged from shipwrecks from around the islands’ shores.

6 miles (9.5km) with 550ft (160m) of ascent.

Surrounded by rocks and reefs, St Agnes is the most south-westerly community in the UK, where the whitewashed lighthouse and traditional stone cottages tumble down to tiny bulb fields, and pocket sized farms. Our circular walk will take us past the old lifeboat station, Troytown Maze, a labyrinth laid out in beach pebbles, and the granite outcrop of the Nag’s Head. From the coastal path we will have impressive views of the treacherous Western Rocks and the famous Bishop Rock lighthouse. A visit to Gugh (pronounced like the name Hugh, but with a G) is determined by the tide. This small island is home to a bounty of archaeological sites.

5 miles (8km) with 500ft (150m) of ascent.

Though the third largest of the islands, St Martin’s is a narrow island only 2 miles long. Easily recognisable from its fine shimmering white sandy beaches, the shores of St Martin’s have the longest stretches of sand in Scilly. Following the coastal path takes us past kelp pits, through scented gorse heathlands, to stone and rope labyrinths. We follow the sandy shore of Little Bay and Great Bay, before turning inland to the flower fields and glasshouses of Higher Town. We also head over the golden gorse heathland of Chapel Down to St Martin’s Head with its chapel, Daymark and ruined Signal Station.

6½ miles (10.5km) with 550ft (170m) of ascent.

Our walk circumnavigates the Islands’ hub of St Mary’s, starting out from our base in Hugh Town. We explore the coastline, passing by the archaeological sites of Bant’s Carn and Innisidgen, the granite tors of Porth Hellick and Peninnis Head, and the one and only set of traffic lights on the islands, at the airport! Before returning to Hugh Town, the coastal path brings us to Old Town– a favourite haunt and now the resting place of the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

10 miles (16km) with 900ft (280m) of ascent.

Bryher is wild, windswept and unkempt, and has a very individual feel to it. Fewer than 100 people live here. There is only one road, and the locals quote the definition of a traffic jam as being “when two tractors meet”! The island has a magnificent variety of scenery, from the wild and rugged Hell Bay in the north, to the peaceful bays and secluded beaches of the south. Our walk will take us across heather moorland, past prehistoric cairns and boulder walls and along sandy coastal paths to see these different sides of Bryher.

5 miles (8km) with 600ft (180m) of ascent.