The ferry from Baltimore brought tourists onto the island, mainly day trippers looking for a bracing walk, as well as mail and any household items ordered by one of the hundred or so people who lived on Sherkin. We watched some plumbing supplies being loaded and a couple of boxes of flat packed furniture, all stored on the deck of the ferry. The boat landed close to the island’s only pub and hotel. There was a flurry of activity at the quay as people jostled to collect their purchases and make the steep climb up the hill to the island’s only hotel and pub.
Of course, we we had to stop off for a beer at the pub before peddling to the far end of the island where Gill and Robin lived. Their house lay out of sight from the road, down a farm track which narrowed into a grassy path before turning the final corner to reveal the house, sitting prettily just above the beach.
They kept a wooden boat moored in the bay which provided the quickest and easiest way to get from Sherkin to to the mainland. It was a fifteen minute boat ride to Turk’s Head, a fisherman’s quay near Baltimore where they were able to moor the boat and walk up to the car which they parked in the lane leading to the quay. There were no shops on Sherkin so supplies were bought at the supermarket in Skibb, loaded from the car to the boat at Turk’s Head and transported to Sherkin by water – wonderful when the weather was fine.
Gill and Robin’s Garden
