After checking out of my hotel this morning, I returned to the Barbican area of Plymouth to take some photographs of some of the areas I described yesterday, principally the Mayflower Stone, and the Royal Citadel. The Mayflower Stone I found to be quite emotive - it's a bare stone set in the quay commemorating the departure of the Mayflower from that site in 1620. Recently, an archway with british and U.S. flags has been erected next to the stone, and the shadows of the flags were fluttering over the Mayflower Stone.

The Mayflower Stone

The massive walls of the Royal Citadel (1660). Figure next to walls is to scale :) Our walls are bigger than those of the Vatican - nah-nah ne nah-nah!

Commercial yachting dock next to the Citadel, with the National Marine Acquarium in the background.

After spending some time trying to locate a World Gym in the suburbs of Plymouth so that I could buy a new supply of protein bars, I left the city heading east. The road east skirts the southern edge of Dartmoor, one of our largest national parks, a granite mass that sometimes rises to a height of 2,000 feet above sea level, covered with gorse and heather, and broken up by brooks and streams. I took a detour from the main road in order to head into the park and get a taste of its famously rough scenery.

The road in was narrower than any I'd encountered so far, but, thankfully, I didn't encounter any other vehicles for miles. Of course, when I did finally meet other vehicles, there were three of us coming from different directions converging on the most impossibly narrow spot of the road. Another time, I had to pull to a stop abruptly when two wild rabbits hopped across the road.

I stopped finally next to a rushing brook which was lined with grassy verges and moss-covered rocks. The land was beginning to rise at this point, but it was by no means as bleak and rugged as I'd expected - mostly green, pretty, rolling farmland. I'd guess that I wasn't far enough into the park for the more severe landscape.

Rolling hills.

I turned back, and returned to the main road some few miles further on. My ultimate destination was Torquay, but I'd chosen to spend the night there more because it's more or less mid-way between Plymouth and Portsmouth: there's nothing in particular that I want to see in Torquay (apart from the novelty of seeing palm trees in the english climate), so I took my time getting there. I decided to make stops along the way in Totnes, for the castle, and Dartmouth, for its naval history.

Picnic in Dartington, on the way to Totnes

Totnes is one of the oldest towns in the West Country, and has a fine motte-and-baily Norman castle in its center. The best way to imagine its appearance is to think of a stone ring, about twenty feet tall, in the form of a crown, set upon a high grassy mound, and this mound is itself set on a wider hill, which is also lined with a small wall. I was the only visitor in the castle at the time, and I was entertained by a performer clad in Medieval dress playing Elizabethean tunes: he was able to play his drum and his recorder simultaneously while walking slowly up the castle steps. I resisted asking him if he could also do Elizabethean dance-steps at the same time :)

Left, Totnes Castle, and the musician in period dress. Right, the view from the battlements.

The view from the grassy path around the main wall of the castle.

I lingered a while on the battlements, listening to the tunes, until an old, well-dressed lady entered into the grassy mound. She mustn't have seen me, because she proceeded, with some distress, to pull her knickers down and pee!

Looking down into the center of the castle mound (where the old lady would pee later!)

Dartmouth isn't too far from Totnes, but I hurried, since I wanted to get there before the museum closed. It's another town with a famous naval history: ship-building again, although on a lesser scale than in Plymouth. It's foremost naval connections have been with the naval college, which has been established here for a couple of centuries. Also unlike Plymouth, it's retained its historical buildings and small scale, and with its pretty river inlet, and stone cottages, it's altogether a much more attractive town.

Dartmouth

First, I called into the tourist information center when I arrived to find out if it was possible to visit the Royal Naval College, but I was very dissapointed to find out that there are only tours on Sunday. My damned guide-book hadn't mentioned that. My visions of seeing rosy-cheeked cadets in the hot afternoon sun faded away.

Dartmouth Museum is rather ... home-grown, with one or two too many ships-in-bottles for my taste. But there were some nice naval battle scenes in watercolor, from the 1800s, and a lot of interesting historical information about Dartmouth. I learned that large areas of the town were converted into barracks for the U.S. Army in the later years of the 2nd World War, while preparations and exercises for D-Day were carried out.

In the Dartmouth Museum. At right, the Royal Coat of Arms in one of the rooms since Charles II held court here once in 1671.

After I left Dartmouth, I began to feel very snoozy, so I was looking forward to checking into my hotel in Torquay in time for a last cup of coffee of the day. But I got stuck in a traffic jam in the horrible town of Paignton (the first town on the English Riviera, a stretch of coast that's warmed by the gulf-stream). I was inching along slowly enough to read the news headlines on the local newspaper in a stall - "Paignton couple find online romance". Hmmm, interesting.

When I finally got to Torquay, I was relieved to find it was much nicer than Paignton - it appeared kind of like an english seaside town on steroids, and yes, I did see a palm tree. But I missed the turn off for my hotel and I spent a further horrible half an hour trying to find it again. By the time I finally checked in, it was too late for me to be drinking coffee, and I was tired and crabby. It's a big holiday hotel I'm staying in - they even have a ballroom, playing "live, sophisticated music - where the stars come out at night!" Unfortunately, I can hear it from my room - right now there's a crooner singing "Memories". Too bad I won't be here on thursday, when Joey Lips and his fabulous five-piece soul orchestra will be playing :).