| July 25th - Plymouth |
| We were lead to this adventure by a two column, four-inch ad in the local paper advertising a company called Megatrain, http://megatrain.com with super cheap train travel. My guess is that Megatrain buys up unused capacity from the various train companies and discounts the seats to the general public. From Bristol the number of destinations is limited to three: London, Plymouth and Exeter and the travel days restricted to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. One of the places on our "wish list" was Plymouth, so, we checked out the tariff (fare). We could travel to and from Plymouth for less than the bus fare. So a one-day trip to Plymouth was planned. Plymouth has to be one of the most beautiful harbors in England. It's a deep-water harbor in the most Southwest corner of England and is England's access to the Atlantic and entrance to the English Channel. With England's high tides, having access to a deep harbor without regard to the time of day is a real blessing. The attributes of the harbor have been further enhanced by the addition of several impressive breakwaters at the entrance to the 'Sound." It is not a surprise that Plymouth is the homeport for the British Navy. The downtown of Plymouth is protected somewhat from the heavier marine influence by a small hill, an obvious place for a fortress, most of which is now a park called "The Hoe." Legend says that Sir Francis Drake stood on this spot in 1588, bowling, when he was told that the Spanish Armada had been spotted. Drake's reply was "We have time enough to finish the game and beat the Spanish too." Drake's statement wasn't all bravado, the tide was running against the Spanish - so why not wait until the tides changed? |
| The east end of the harbor had been converted to a floating harbor full of pleasure boats and some commercial fishing boats. There was even a simple lock to let boats in and out at low tide. This is the tourist center and incorporates an old town district known as the Barbican, featuring narrow streets, funky little shops and restaurants. |
| The old town leads out to a tourist wharf area that leads to an arch monument to the Mayflower's demarcation point in 1620. We picked a seaside restaurant for a nice leisurely lunch and sat outdoors under a tent. Tried a half-pint of the local cider. We then ambled down to the Mayflower stuff. The Mayflower demarcation was both inspirational and disappointing. A bronze placard indicated the spot where the Mayflower left the harbor at the little marble arch shown above and, nearby, on a wall was a list of the original passengers list. |
| Jerry's Mother's side of the family can trace its roots to Mary Chilton (age 11) who sailed on the Mayflower. But, compared to all the rest of the history associated with this harbor, the sailing of the Mayflower was a minor event (at least for the English). From the Harbor we wandered around the point to "The Hoe." The point of land seaward of the Hoe has been developed to a very impressive tourist/community center. At the water level they have built a swimming center with a large outdoor saltwater pool. The cliffs above featured an architecturally interesting museum and Smeaton's Tower. Smeaton Tower is the old Eddystone Rocks lighthouse from about fourteen miles offshore. This was one of the most treacherous lighthouse locations in the world. The lighthouse had been replaced not because it wasn't tough enough for the job, but because it simply wasn't high enough. In the really bad storms the waves would wash over it. Smeaton Tower had been built from individual locking stones, like a jig-saw puzzle and then assembled in place. The stones would interlock in three dimensions. The Plymouth Dome museum featured local history and an impressive display on lighthouses and lighthouse construction. Also on the Hoe was a very impressive monument to the war dead of both WWI and WWII. |
| Plymouth was an obvious prime target during World War II and the Nazis flattened most of the city. This had its positive side. Plymouth had gotten a little seedy before the war and many projects aimed at urban renewal were underway - the war sort of speeded things up. With the city gone, they were able to build a new city from the ground up. The city center was obviously built by a single plan and is neat and orderly. The only problem with the city center was that it was built in the late 40's - early 50's during a time of acute material and labor shortages and the buildings themselves lack architectural interest - functional but definitely 1950's design. The buildings around the designed center are a hodge-podge of styles and are what would be expected in most modern cities. We traveled from the train station to the city center and back via the local buses - they are definitely less expensive than the buses in Bristol. The train trips were pretty much as expected except for one feature. The highway between here and Plymouth stays away from the coast. The train, however, ran right on the bulkheads of a beach for several miles. A light haze limited the vision over the water but the water was big. In looking at the map, the water was probably the English Channel and we must have been somewhere near Torquay. We were back in Bristol by about 7:30 PM, took the bus from the train depot to the center of town and had a nice dinner and walked the rest of the way home. It had been hot in Bristol, again, and the flat needed a bit of time to bring in fresh air to make it cooler. |
| Another good day! |
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| Entrance to the Harbor as seen from the Hoe |
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| The main breakwater shows behind the Naval ship. Several large vessels are at anchor |
| From the Citadel looking west you can see the city's swimming popl on the point, the Plymouth Dome Museum and Smeaton's Tower |
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| Barbican |
| Mayflower Arch |
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