20 November 28, 2021The Sunday Times
Travel UK
While the turboprop flights
still operate, my plan was
more romantic: to travel from
Paddington to Penzance on the
Night Riviera sleeper service,
hop over to explore the
islands, then go back up to
London on the afternoon
Cornishman Pullman train.
We’d end the day with supper
in the dining car, feasting on
Great Western Railway’s fabled
sirloin steak. A journey, in
multiple ways, back in time.T
he first time I
visited the Isles of
Scilly, Margaret
Thatcher was still
prime minister.
We flew from Newquay in a19-passenger turboprop. We
feasted on local brill and we
revelled in the peculiar sense
of serenity exuded by this
offshore West Country haven.
It’s the sort of place that
quickly gets under your skin,
and then stays there. One of
Maggie’s predecessors —
Harold Wilson, a lifelong Scilly
advocate — chose to be buried
in the cemetery at St Mary’s
Old Church when he died in
1995, aged 79.
Last month, also aged 79
(I’m not a big one for omens),
I set off with my wife, Linda,
to rediscover the archipelago.
Everyone talks about its
charms being timeless; would
it, indeed, be blissfully
unchanged?Malcolm Ginsberg takes the overnight train to
Penzance on a nostalgic return to the islands
SLEEPER TO THE
ISLES OF
SCILLY
SLEEPER
TO THE
ISLES OF
SCILLY