The burning question for the day was how we would get back to Exeter. If we got a reasonable break in the weather we’d bike it, and if not we’d catch the train. We’d like to bike of course, especially Rachael who regretted she didn’t mount the GoPro when we biked into here along this route three days ago.
It’s a flat, downwind 13 mile ride so we don’t need much of a break; and we have a lot of flexibility because trains from Exmouth to Exeter and then on from there to Plymouth run frequently all day long. Around 9:30 there’s a brief rainstorm hammering our windows and discouraging us, but it passes in ten minutes and we decide to take our chances. And we’re in luck, staying dry nearly the whole way. At one point a shower breaks out and Rachael is suggesting that we stop and put on our pannier covers before it gets worse, but I keep going looking for a sheltered spot to stop - and by the time I come to one the showers stop too and don’t return.
On the ride to Exeter. We’re twice lucky with the weather - it stays dry for us, and we have a 15-20 mph tailwind blasting us up the estuary.
Video sound track: Dragonfly, by Yasmin a Williams
We bike into Saint David’s station at about 11, feeling appreciative at how well NCN has marked out the bike route for us. We haven’t targeted a specific departure because they run all day, but when I purchase tickets I’m told the next train leaves on track 4 in 12 minutes and we should be able to just make it if we hurry. I point out that we have bicycles and he says he’ll have to check to see if space is available (we could have booked space in advance if we knew which departure we wanted), but I quickly add that we have folders so he waves us on. The Great Western Railway has a fine bike policy, in our opinion - bicycles are free, as long as there’s space - there’s capacity for 2, 4 or 6 bikes depending on the train - but folders with 20” or smaller wheels are always allowed.
I rush out to Rachael, and we hustle. It helps immeasurably that there are elevators with capacity for both bikes in one lift. When we arrive at track 4 the train is already in and unloading its arriving passengers. The bike car is at the far end of the long train, so we walk fast through the confusing throng. When we get to the front an attendant helps us manage quickly boarding and securing the bikes, and then we rush off to the nearest passenger door. As we’re just sitting down the train jerks into motion.
We arrive in Plymouth not long after one, and after a stop by the pharmacy so Rachael can consult with the pharmacist about her nasal congestion (she’s advised to quit using the saline spray she’s been using recently and just leave her nose alone for a week) we bike a few blocks to our new home, Foxhouse Studio Apartments. We’ll be staying here for the next four nights, our last stop in Britain before catching an overnight ferry to France.
After checking in, Rachael immediately rushes off to the store while I polish off yesterday’s post. Then we switch places - she heads to bed and is out cold for the next hour and a half while I take advantage of a break in the weather and walk over to The Hoe, the nearby park that sits in an impressive spot high above Plymouth Sound. Now a public space, it was formerly military land adjacent to the Royal Citadel. It’s a striking place to walk around with its fine views of the harbor and surrounding land formations, a lighthouse, and various monuments and memorials.
Looking across to Bovisand, the coastline east of Plymouth Sound.
Smeaton’s Tower is a prominent landmark. Originally the upper part of the Eddystone Lighthouse (erected in 1659), it was dismantled, moved here and reconstructed in 1877.
Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsIt’s because the hill wasn’t converted to a public space until the 1880’s. That’s when the Drake and Armada Memorials and Norrington’s Fountain (an image I omitted but have since added) and the lighthouse were placed, together with some initial features that no longer exist - in particular the Plymouth Pier, which was demolished after it was damaged by a German bombing raid in World War Two. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Crowning the Armada Memorial is a statue of Britannia, the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield.
At the base of the obelisk are 28 panels, seven on each side, listing 7,251 sailors lost at sea in the First World War. Surrounding it is a wall with the names of 15,993 lost in the Second World War. The memorial is one of three, with the other two at the British naval ports of Chatham and Portsmouth.
The Noreington Fountain, unveiled in 1881. A representation of Rebecca of the well, given by Charles Norrington, a former Mayor of Plymouth, in memory of his wife, the fountain was intended to provide a source of drinking water for boys and girls playing on the Hoe.
The Merchant’s House, an Elizabethan structure probably from the 16th century. The former home of William Parker, privateer and close friend of Sir Francis Drake.
Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsThere’s more to Plymouth than Hoe Park. There are numerous mentions of it down at the harbor, as well as Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle which also set sail from here. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
