Blogs from Devon, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 35

Plymouth for the long weekend (Extra long as we take the Wed, Thurs & Friday off) woohoo! Lots of sun and sea! We leave the Midlands on Wednesday around 10am for the 4 - 5 hour journey to Plymouth. An absolutely gorgeous day, which is great on one hand, bad on the other, as the car is not air conditioned. We only have one stop on the way so we can get there as soon as possible. The views on the way down are beautiful English country side. We arrive in Plymouth around 3.30pm to find we are right next to Sainsburys (supermarket) which is a bonus, as we can grab a few things to eat in the hotel. The hotel room is lovely, large room, champange waiting for us, big bathroom, really comfortable bed and ... read more

The journey continues and after 3.5 days of cycling I have finally ended up in Plymouth, my old stomping ground. My God are Dorset and Devon hilly!! The great thing about cycling everyday is that you can eat what you like including every single possible chocolate bar on offer. En route I was very fortunate to meet up with my old lodger Naomi who kindly treated me to lunch out in the vicinity of Beer. Whilst in Beer, I stumbled upon a bench which had a plaque on it commemorating somebody's young son. A tragic early death but at least the boy had his priorities right. Plymouth is always a great place to stop and have a rest and naturally with the sun out and shining I had to take advantage of the Barbican location with ... read more

This morning I set out to explore the nearby fishing village of Clovelly, famous for its steep, cobbled streets and picturesque harbor. The village is closed off to vehicle traffic. From the coast, I began to make my way south through the rolling countryside of Devon. Again, the Triumph was in its element. Long queues of vehicles stacked up behind slow moving farm machinery were dispatched with ease. By mid-afternooon, darkening skies were beginning to make their presence felt. I was sprinkled on a few times but continued to enjoy mostly sunshine. I passed through the Dartmoor National Park on my way south and on the the town of Totnes on the south coast of Devon. Time was beginning to expire on my journey so I turned and headed north through the pastoral Devon countryside. Again, ... read more

Photos of Plymouth and National Marine Aquarium...... read more

On July 4th, I celebrated my independence from the British by... exploring their countryside. It didn't feel like the 4th at all, though I did see an American flag - more on that in the next blog entry. First stop, Exeter in Devonshire. See a map of the trip to the left. I traveled with some friends and a baby, Jonah, who was lovely to have as a neighbor in the back seat, though he spent much of the time sleeping. Once we got to Exeter, we walked past Exeter's City Wall, which is almost 2000 years old, dating back to Roman times. This took us down the the Quayside, where trade ships used to come in on a canal connected to the River Exe. Much of Exeter's commerce was based on the wool trade (yay, ... read more

After Exeter, we wandered down to the coast to a town called Torquay, which is on Torbay. This area is known as the English Riveria, but having never seen the real (French) Riveria, I just have to take their word for it. In any case, the drive was beautiful, going up and down hills and through cutesy little towns, with peeks of the sea every so often. The only things open at this point were touristy souvenir shops and restaurants, but the bay was beautiful, filled with sailboats in the evening light. I also had the one moment that reminded me that it was the 4th of July - I stumbled upon an American flag on a pole! The mystery was explained when I saw a sign that said that some of the boats involved in ... read more