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>Isles of Scilly
>Samson

Samson is relatively small compared to the other islands, and has now been abandoned by humans. Farmers used to work the steep slopes of the small island, which is only half a mile long by less than quarter of a mile wide. The island is now a nature reserve, and at certain times of year, parts of the island are sealed off for conservation purposes. However, one or two boat trips take only a handfull of people there on a daily basis, before effectively leaving people stranded there until it returns in the evening. There's nothing at all on Samson, except two heather-covered hills, and a small beach. But that's what attracts visitors to the island - it's as close as you can get to being on a remote desert island, without leaving Europe!

Samson's twin peaks
The trip across the water from St. Mary's to Samson, whose twin peaks
hike up above the water.

Clambering off the boat onto the beach
Clambering off our boat, the Surprise, which runs aground on the beach to let the entrepid explorers off onto Samson's golden sands at Bar Point, on the north-east
side of the island...

The 'Surprise', beached!
...then the boat has to power its way quickly back into deeper water before the tide recedes further....

We're left stranded
...and slowly the boat disappears! We're officially stranded on the tiny island
of Samson, so time to do some exploring!

Rocky!
Samson's western shore is facing the wrath of the Atlantic, so little wonder that
it's simply a pile of boulders. However, with such a diverse array of rockpools, the
sealife there is simply stunning

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly
Back on the sands of eastern Samson, small tuffs of sea-grass and other plants
allow butterflies to sit for hours on the beach.

Laura and view from Samson
The view north-east from Samson's bar point, with Tresco in the background.

A Samson sunset
Samson at sunset. Its two unmistakeable hills, with north hill on the right, and south hill on the left. The sandy spit between the hills remains above sea-level, but only just!

Ouch! :(
And finally, a harsh lesson learnt. Samson is thickly vegetated with 6ft ferns, from shoreline to hill summit. There are marked paths across the island, but we managed
to accidentally stray from this path on South Hill. We attempted to climb up over the
hill to get back to where we started, but amongst the 6ft ferns was a ground layer,
2ft deep of vicious thorns and brambles. Stick to the routes and conserve the natural environment. Not only are you destroying habitats by venturing off-path, but you
could also end up leaving half of your leg behind!

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