Plymouth (9th April)

First sight of land in Devon

Took the Brittany Ferries' Pont Aven from Roscoff to Plymouth during the day Sunday 9th.  Six-hour trip, this being our boat cruise for the trip.  Very nice, big boat that travels between Roscoff and Plymouth at least daily.  Carries cars and foot passengers and has cafe's and bars, cinema and shops etc.  Made it into Plymouth with plenty of time for some exploring, found a good church service in St Andrew's, in the centre of the town.

Warm sunny day at the Hoe

Comfortable and friendly stay at The Caraneal B&B, took a trip for a couple of hours over to Cornwall on the Cremyll Ferry, which crosses the Tamar to Mount Edgcumbe.  Fun little boat ride that takes just a few minutes, then wander around the gardens there.  A friendly old volunteer man took us on a ride around the grounds and up to the old house on his little buggy.  Rushed lunch at pub in order to catch the boat back to meet time objectives but then possible disaster struck in that my backpack (complete with all the important things we didn't want to leave unlocked in the B&B, like passports, laptop, tickets etc.) had mysteriously disappeared.  Of great relief to us, I had left the bag an hour before in an ice-cream shop at the top of the hill, and our volunteer buggy driver came to the rescue and scooted us up the hill to find the bag intact and complete.  Losing bags with everything in it is not a recommended travel tip, so I have come to learn.

First sightings of the Promised Land across the Tamar -
See the sign in the middle?

The rest of the day was travel fun not without challenge but we took train to Exeter, taxi to airport from where we picked up a hire car and drove across the Blackdown Hills to what feels like our second home:  Trull, Taunton, Somerset.

Hire car came with a bonus, achieved through the combination of a Caramel Koala and my charm and wit, in that we had the car upgraded to a nice Seat Ibiza automatic for only a few extra pounds.  Martha happy to have an auto at last.