A few hours in Plymouth

A few hours in Plymouth

On Thursday I had to make a five hour journey by train from my place all the way down to Plymouth! I was dreading the last stage of 3 1/2 hours cooped up in a train carriage with nothing to see but the countryside as it passed by at great speed! I get very uncomfortable if I have to sit on a coach or train for more than an hour or so.

I took a book with me to read & a small computer which I hoped would be able to connect to the internet. A sort of “braces & belt” policy to avoid getting too bored & fed up.

In the end I couldn’t connect to the internet until the very last hour of the journey! Even then it was SOOOO S-L-O-W , it took more then 30 mins just to update my antivirus definitions!!!

Anyway the reason for my journey was to meet our son who was returning from Spain with his car in the ferry from Santander. As his car is obviously a left hand drive he was quite worried & nervous thinking about having to drive on the “wrong” side of the road! But I was equally as nervous as I’m not a driver & I had never been in the driver’s seat of a car in motion before! I was to act as his “eyes” on the far side, as well as his navigator!

My greatest worry was thinking about how we would get out of Plymouth during the rush hour as there were bound to be a great many cars on the roads & drivers impatient to get home after a long day’s work that might not be tolerant of a slow, nervous driver not knowing where he was going & perhaps “straying” over to the wrong side of the road. I thought once we were out of town & on the motorways every thing would be plain sailing – so it was – more or less! Our daughter had left me their navigational guide that helped out a great deal on some of the roundabouts! Without it we’d probably be going round & round some of them even now!!!

Anyway here are some photos I managed to take of the town & I thought might be of interest to those of you who have never visited it before – like me!

At the top of a sort of ‘park come stairway’ I discovered these statues:

Intrigued as to who they represented I discovered this information close by:

They are of three famous men, two of whom sailed from Plymouth, these two men I knew, Scott & Darwin, but I didn’t know of Marine Ben McBean.

I’m going to put the info on the 3 men on here so you can read it as the photo is rather small:

Charles Darwin:

Darwin’s theory of evolution transformed the way we think about the natural world. His research was inspired by his voyage on HMS Beagle, which left Plymouth in 1831, circling the world on a journey that lasted almost five years. Darwin stayed in Plymouth before the ship sailed, visiting many local sites.

Scott of the Antarctic:

Born in Stoke Dameral, Plymouth, in 1868 . Robert Falcon Scott joined the navy at 13. The Royal Geographical Society chose him as the leader for two expeditions to the Antarctic. His second expedition reached the South Pole in 1912. Tragically, he and his three companions died on the journey back.

Marine Ben McBean:

Described by Price Harry as “the real hero”, Ben McBean grew up in Plymouth. He overcame losing an arm and a leg in Afghanistan, to run the London Marathon. In his own words “this statue isn’t just about me, it represents anyone who’s overcome adversity, it’s about how you react to ‘those setbacks’.

University of Plymouth ‘Roland Levinsky’ building:

As I continued down the very wide steps I came across these clumps of Daffodils that had obviously been growing in situ for many years:

Camellias in park:

These Camellias were making a lovely show & I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos!

The Heather looked much better than in the photo, which doesn’t do it justice. The Camellia was well shown off by the Heather.

Daffodils in street islands:

I discovered there are some, what I can only describe as “street islands”, that divide a very wide road & had plantings of Daffodils & Heucheras below palm trees. All the planting appear to be very old.

Now on my way to the ferryport:

‘King Point Marina’ near the ferryport:

There were some very expensive boats moored here:

Now arriving at the ferryport:

Here we are at last!:

Here is the closest photo I was able to get of the ferry that my son travelled on from Spain:

As you might imagine we made it home safe & sound without too many diversions & both my son & I managed to survive the journey of 6 1/2 hours with our sanity intact.

Back from Spain – a 2nd time!

Back from Spain – a 2nd time!

In November last year we went over to be present when our only Spanish grandchild was about to be born. This time we went over for “Mother’s Day”, which is always on the first Sunday in May.

As we were coming into town this is what we were greeted by:

Snow at Cabrejas Pass, Cuenca, Spain:

This pass is about 1,300m high & about 10mins drive from Cuenca which is 1,000m high.

More snow at Cabrejas Pass, Cuenca, Spain:

It was snowing, raining & sleeting when we reached the city itself & got off the coach about 15 mins later!

Snowing in Cuenca:

This last photo was taken by our daughter-in-law in the street where their block of flats is. She send it to us while we were on the coach on our way to Cuenca!

I read through what I wrote in November last year

“Back from Spain”

& found that what I had to say was almost the same as I said back then because our time was spent in a similar manner except this time most weekdays we were there we picked up our granddaughter from the nursery around 2 – 2.30 pm & then took her to our son’s cafeteria.

Kafe King Cross:

Our son & wife had arranged for their 6 month old daughter, Ainara, to be christened on the same day.

Ainara at her christening:

Ainara with Quico & Nanny in park in Cuenca:

Both sets of grandparents with Ainara in park in Cuenca:

We went over on April 28th for 10 days. The day of the christening was a really splendid, hot sunny day! The best day by far of our stay in Cuenca!

What a difference a week can make! Our first Sunday in Cuenca it was snowing but our 2nd Sunday was hot & sunny!

Both Mondays we were there we had lunch with them & then in the evenings, around 7.30 pm, we took Ainara out for a walk! Many of the evening we repeated this for a couple of hours then we took her back home for her supper & bath & bed. Most evening around 10pm we also helped our son to close up for the night. That way he was able to get away perhaps 30mins earlier than if we had not helped him. He opens every morning about 7.30am as many people like to have breakfast in a bar before starting work. They perhaps have a coffee & a bun before going to start their day’s work.

Most morning we also went to have a coffee & a bun at his cafeteria, around 11am. We would get him anything he might need like change for the till, some oranges & lemons or paper serviettes. He runs the place on his own much of the time so can’t get away. That way we were able to help him a little.

Our time went by very quickly & we hardly saw the son & his partner who we always stay with! They had moved into a new flat only about a month before we arrived so many things were not in place yet & they needed to get many things for the new flat.

We returned to the UK on Weds 8th May to be greeted by a strong, cold wind! Apparently the temps had fallen a good 10ºC from the high on Tuesday which it seems was the hottest day of the year so far.

This Sunday back in the UK the started off as a lovely sunny day but with a cold wind then about 3pm it started to rain & the cold wind continued.

I haven’t been down to the allotment for over two weeks now but I hope to be able to resume work – & my blogs! – from next week. Now we are in the middle part of May I hope we have seen the last of the frosts till the middle of October so I can get on with planting & growing once again.

Since before going to Cuenca in November last year I’ve hardly been able to do any work on either my plot or Gerry’s. I had a lot of seeds germinating in the greenhouse as well as here at home. I have about 3 seedtrays of Sweet Peppers as well as 4 of Tomatoes all waiting to go down to the allotments!

May marks the time when I take my Amaryllis plants down as well. This year as I have no Pansies left alive to help brighten up the balcony I’m going to take all my spring flowering bulbs down to the allotment for the summer as well. They have all finished flowering now & the balcony looks dull with a load of floppy green leaves slowly turning yellow! I simply do not have the space on the balcony to keep them during the summer.