Advertisement
Published: August 9th 2016
Edit Blog Post
A Few of the Views from the Bus
A few differences in the width of roads here Where else will the buses from Dartmouth take us? Plymouth was another destination we could easily reach, but we can also get there easily by boat. Should we take the time to explore Plymouth by bus when we can sail there? Our reports on Plymouth from others left us with mixed reviews – some said it was worth a stop and others said you could easily bypass it. We had some extra time in Dartmouth so we figured we could take the bus, see a new area and then decide for ourselves if we would take the time to sail there later as we move west along the coast. We could either get to Plymouth by taking the bus #3 which took us to Kingsbridge previously OR we could take a different route to Plymouth. Naturally we took the route not previously taken!
It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride seeing more of the Devon countryside. Not much was different in the actual vistas that we saw, but for part of it the roads were quite different from bus #3 in that we actually took a major divided highway – that was quite a change and
I’m sure much easier on the driver! First, before any sightseeing was going to occur we did have a mission in that we were trying to find the same type of store that we had bought our original sim card for Janice’s phone as we were having some problems with it. In our google search it stated there were a couple of places that handled the same type of sim, but in reality some of them were out of business or weren’t able to help us. Oh well, it was worth a try. Now, on for the rest of the day of exploring.
We didn’t have any specific sights we wanted to see in Plymouth so we had a relaxing wander around the area. Others did mention that we should go to the Hoe and the Barbican area, but that was all we knew (except of course the location that the Mayflower left from after making an unscheduled stop here). The sun was out making for a lovely day. As we walked from the shopping area toward the water, one of the things that you come to is the very impressive Naval Memorial. During WWI more than 45,000 British
Navy men and women died with many of them having died at sea. It was decided that they would honor those lost at sea with 3 identical monuments located at each of the manned ports which are Plymouth, Chatham and Portsmouth. The one in Plymouth was unveiled in 1924 with the names of over 7,000 that died. Over one-quarter of those 7,000 names were lost in the Battle of Jutland off the coast of Denmark. That battle lasted over 72 hours involving 100,000 British and German personnel and 250 ships. This memorial was extended in 1954 to include those that lost their lives in WWII. The British Navy played an important role in safeguarding the importation of food and war materials as well as transporting Allied troops to the battlegrounds in Europe, Asia and Africa. As the front of the monument states this is dedicated to all of those lost at sea, both British Navy men and women as well as their comrades in Australia, South Africa, Newfoundland, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Fiji, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malaya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Burma.
Another landmark located along the Hoe is that of the Eddystone Lighthouse. This light helped protect
Looked Like An Interesting Structure When Arriving
but realized it was a church in front of a shopping mall! those that plied the waters near the Eddystone Reef from 1882 until 1982. When it was replaced by an unmanned marker it was moved to this location in Plymouth. It is possible to climb to the top of the tower, but as we had toured one while in the Azores, we didn’t take the time to climb this one.
At the waterfront there is an impressive Tinside Lido (pool) which was built in 1935. It holds over one-half million gallons of water which is pumped in seawater. It was restored in 2003 and brought up to its art deco glory – what a showpiece it is! Next to the pool itself is another swimming area with built in stairs into the water, a small beach at low tide and changing booths for those that prefer going into the sea directly.
The Royal Citadel built in 1665 during the 2
nd Anglo-Dutch War is quite a landmark as well. The wall of the Citadel lines the walk along the seafront protecting this artillery fortress. Tours had to be booked ahead so we didn’t get to view this from the inside, but it definitely makes quite a statement when you are
anywhere near the waterfront.
A monument dedicated to the time of Napoleon’s time in Plymouth was a surprise as he was here for only 10 days in 1815 when he surrendered after the Battle of Waterloo. In reading the details it appears that it was quite an event at the time as many of the people here wanted to catch a glimpse of Napoleon so they would try to row out to the ship he was being held on hoping to see him. They said that on one day alone there were 8,000 people in small boats and on shore trying to get to see him before he was exiled to the island of St. Helena. The only casualty was that one man drowned when he fell out of one of the boats.
The monument that is located here is an interesting one. It is made of 2 stones, one is a block of granite from the Dartmoor Prison which was where the French prisoners were held and the other is a volcanic stone that came from the house that Napoleon lived in when exiled on St. Helena. The plaque states that this is to celebrate 200 years
The Naval Memorial is Quite Impressive
reminding you of all of those that were lost at sea of peace between the UK and France from 1815-2015. It is interesting with these political times to read the following: “May our hearts be open to friendship and our arms reach across the sea to unite our two nations.”
We continued our walk down the Hoe toward the marinas of course – we never seem to avoid gravitating to them. Plymouth has a very large aquarium here which looked quite interesting, but with such a short time here, we by-passed this tourist attraction. In this area we also got to see the memorial at the location where the Pilgrims left from on the Mayflower back in 1620. Both the Speedwell and Mayflower left from here, but as stated in the earlier Dartmouth blog entry, they returned for repairs and as we all know the Mayflower is the one that made it to “New England”. In the photos of this you will see that there is a place with an American and British flag flying marking the “stairway” where they would have left from.
After having a pleasant lunch at an outdoor café in the old warehouse area, we continued to wander around the historic area of Plymouth. You
can see many of the old warehouses being used now as shops or converted into residence. We came across a “hidden” garden that was very peaceful and a nice change for those that visit it as an escape from the hectic street life. In the past wealthy merchants owned lovely homes in this area with large gardens in the back. Many would eventually build smaller houses in the back yard for their workmen. In the 19
th century the area was growing fast and as a result many of the wealthy merchants moved out to get away from the crowded conditions. When the bombing of WWII destroyed much of this area, the place went into ruin and many places were condemned by the Health Department. Fortunately in 1956 there were subsidies provided to build new places if the slum houses were torn down. 32 of the original houses were kept on the street front and as a result some of the gardens were restored as well. This garden was the result of those efforts.
In order to get back to the bus station in time for our return to Dartmouth, we now had to head back into the
town center going past a very impressive Guildhall. It was definitely a pleasant day in Plymouth, but now we know that if we decide to sail past this harbor we would not have to wonder about what we missed. It also gave us a good view of the harbor and reaffirms for us a couple of places we could put an anchor down if we need to stop either on our way west or our return trip.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.61s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 31; qc: 121; dbt: 0.1954s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb