Before leaving Dartmouth we visited the castle at the mouth of the Dart river. This castle has been protecting Dartmouth for over 550 years. As well as having cannons of many varieties over the years it also had a chain which was attached to the bank on the other side of the river and it could be raised or lowered from the castle side. This chain was even used during the second world war to protect the harbour from subs. A really good visit and presented very well.

We then left for Plymouth but on the way we stopped at Slapton Sands, the site of Operation Tiger. It was here that rehearsals by the Americans took place in 1944 in preparation for the Normandy invasion. The locals in this and other areas nearby vacated their houses and farms for the American troops to move in. It shows the commitment and desperation of the English to make sure they were safe from invasion and more importantly to end the war. There were a number of memorials in the area - one from the Americans showing their gratitude to the locals.

Another memorial was a Sherman Tank which was raised from the seabed in 1984 and restored to commemorate the loss of more than 900 Americans who died during the training exercises, more lives lost than during the actual operation.

Soon after this stop we arrived in Plymouth. The hassle with the GPS took us up an alley with steps at the end of it. We have been using postcodes in the GPS system and these have sometimes just taken us nearby. Will now start using house addresses to see if there is any improvement. With help from Rob at the B&B we negotiated our way back down the alley and up to the B&B. After settling in he gave us a great overview of the area and off we went.

Historically Plymouth has been a very important city/port having been involved in exploration (Christopher Columbus sailed from here), colonisation (the Hind sailed to NZ from here), wars (Sir Francis Drake attacked Spanish Armada from here) and others (Napoleon was here on a prison ship for a couple of weeks). We came across memorials (on the Hoe) and plaques everywhere attesting to this and a lot more history. In fact Plymouth is expecting a huge influx of Americans in September of 2020 being the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower's landing at Plymouth Rock. Might be expensive to stay here then.

The Hoe was just up the road from us. It is a large open area with great views of Plymouth and its harbour. On the way up we passed the Royal Citadel. This fortress was built in the 17th century and Bruce was hoping to be able to go in. One of his golfing buddies used to be in the 29th Commando Brigade who are stationed in the Citadel. Unfortunately it is only open for tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and being an MOD facility they would not be able to guarantee he would get in not having a UK passport.

After heading up to the Hoe we then wandered down the hill on the harbour side to an area called the Barbican. It has the oldest buildings and thus history along with lots of pubs, restaurants etc. Really lovely area.

After a good nights sleep we woke up to a great B&B breakfast before heading to Truro. Bruce finally got his black pudding. Not just a few pieces cut off the end of a sausage this was quite uniquely prepared and was delicious.