We had a last minute invite with only 3 weeks to arrange transport. It was to be the first week of the school holidays in England and all the ferry tickets had been sold. I was actually glad as our son goes most years and spends his time with his head down the loo as the boat is round-bottomed for the shallower waters around the isles and one has to have a cast iron stomach at the best of times, apparently. We managed to get the last 2 tix for that day flying by Skybus from Land’s End to St. Mary’s instead.
We drove very early to beat the long and crowded holiday drive down the A30 from our temporary lodgings in Caldicot and to try and get a cancellation earlier as the inter-island boat from St. Mary’s to Bryher for the rest of our journey would have gone and we would have to exclusively book a jet boat. We did have a bit of a wait but they did manage to get us on an earlier flight as someone had missed their train connection and would be in need of our seats when eventually they arrived.
The flight was in a light aircraft (8 seats) and we had to be weighed and seated accordingly to balance the plane. Since the day was sunny and windless we had a lovely but noisy 15 minute flight. Above the noise of the props we heard a dog in a crate in the hold barking. They take dogs on the planes. Prices are not cheap and we paid £450 for return flights and airport parking – think where EasyJet or RyanAir would get you for that! The views were superb.
On our way back, we stood in the one, long queue for ages and when we got to the front we saw on the wall a small notice that the Land’s End queue was to its right and to ring the bell for assistance (so beware). However, our flight that day was on a twice-the-size sea otter plane which took 9 minutes!! They don’t need to weigh you for that as long as you fit onto the seat, I suppose.
Things to look out for are that there is a strict luggage weight and size policy and that there is no security gate as such so you don’t have to worry about volume of fluids you take in your hand luggage. Check the Skybus website.
