After having spent the last two days on longer train trips, we decided to stay “close” to Paignton and check out Plymouth, Britain’s self-proclaimed “Ocean City”.

Plymouth, the Hoe to be exact, is where on July 19, 1588, Sir Francis Drake continued his game of Bowls while the Spanish Armada sailed near to Britain’s shores. This is also considered the best view of Plymouth’s natural harbor. It really is stunning as the Hoe is so high above the harbor.

We also saw a modern art piece called “Beatle Bums“, installed in 2016 to commemorate the legenedary Liverpudlians and their visit to Plymouth while working on their Magical Mystery Tour. The copper molds allow visitors to sit and photograph a replica of the Beatle’s “iconic” picture, overlooking the Harbor.

We winded our way down passed the “military day” displays that packed the Hoe and wandered around the Barbican, checked out the Mayflower Museum (which is a delightful museum with lots of cool hands on stuff and great displays (including a window where you can see the stairs the Puritans used to get to their boats).

A stop for lunch at the Greedy Pig (specializing in greasy but oh so good food such as bacon bites … battered and deep-fried chunks of bacon … and barbeque and very American-style foods). This was the highlight of our day.

Our trip to Plymouth was the worst day we’d had — rainy and overcrowded and Plymouth was kind of a non-starter for us. On top of that, we lost all our pictures from the day except one (way too easy to delete a day’s worth of pictures from a smart-phone):

This memorial is made up of a rock from St. Helena, set in the midst of stones from Dartmoor Prison where thousands of French prisoners were detained.

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Tomorrow … day 6 and a visit to Torquay for a lovely Sunday

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