My
phone rang at about 1.30am today and woke us all, then we had trouble getting
back to sleep, so we got up later than we had planned. We woke to some heavy
cloud with sunny patches. After
breakfast we set off for Plymouth. It took us about an hour & a half to get
there, so my plan of trying to find a hairdresser was put on the backburner.
Tricia had suggested the Barbican was a good part of the city to see, so that
is where we headed. Our first stop was a coffee shop (so we could use the
toilets) then we headed to the tourist information centre where we got some
information on the area and some stamps to post the post cards Alison had
written yesterday. We then went for a walk around the Barbican area and the Hoe
(from the Saxon “high place”). From the Hoe are views that take in Drake’s
Island in the Sound. On top of grassy hill is couple of war memorials. In front
of them is the red and striped ‘Smeaton’s Tower’ which was erected as a
lighthouse in 1759, on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, fourteen miles out to
sea. When it was replaced by a larger beacon in 1882, it was reassembled in its
present position. East of the Hoe is Plymouth’s Royal Citadel, an
uncompromising fortress constructed in 1666 to intimidate the populace of the
only town in the southwest held by the Parliamentarians in the Civil War, is
still partly in military use. North of the Citadel, the town’s quay at Sutton
Harbour is still used by Plymouth’s sizeable trawler fleet and is the scene of
an early morning fish market. The Barbican district, which edges the harbour to
the south, is the heart of old Plymouth, with shops and restaurants lining the
main Southside Street. The parallel New Street holds seventeenth century
warehouses and some of the oldest residential buildings, among them the
Elizabethan House – a former captain’s dwelling that retains most of its
original architectural features. I forgot to take photos of these buildings!
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| Plymouth |
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| Plymouth |
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| Plymouth |
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| Plymouth |
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| Plymouth |
After
wandering around the area for a while, we found a pasta bar to have some lunch.
Alison had Nachos, Keith had pasta & beef stir fry and I had lasagne. It
was delicious and meant we would once again mean we didn’t need to cook dinner
tonight! Following lunch, we headed back to the car and drove to Tricia &
Eric’s to spend the afternoon with them. We spent some time at their place with
Keith & Tricia talking about the Watkins Family tree. At about 2.30pm we
all got in our car for the short drive to the Old Pump House Café at Lopwell –
a place that Tricia and Eric like to visit. As we left their place, a misty
rain started falling. It continued for the 20 minute drive to Lopwell, with the
clouds seeming to get lower. When we got to the Pump House Café, they told us
they were closed (we arrived at 3.10pm). Their closing time for this time of
year is 3.00pm, but the lady in the café said she would still do “Cream Tea” (what
we know as “Devonshire Tea”) for us! We were very pleased and enjoyed more time
with Tricia and Eric in the warm café. Tricia and Eric visit the café regularly
and have watched a family of white swans grow. There are 4 babies who are now
just about fully grown, but still have their brown feathers. Unfortunately the
café is on an estuary and the tide was out so we didn’t see much more than mud.
We drove back to Tricia’s in misty rain with very low cloud around. After
saying our good byes to the Tricia and Eric, we headed back to the cottage. It
was wet and foggy most of the way back. We arrived home at about 6.00pm and
settled down for a relaxing evening.
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| mother and 3 of her young at Lopwell |
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| the clouds were very low |
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