10 minute read
TRAVEL
Image: Summit Imagery PLYMOUTH IS KNOWN as Britain’s ocean city and having spent the weekend there in baking sunshine during the reat Britain Sail rand rix can safely agree with that description. One of the ex-Olympic commentators at the race suggested there is a boat out there for everyone regardless of age, si e or ability and, having watched the mass of activities in the huge bay called the lymouth Sound, which is like a natural amphitheatre, can testify to that too. There were sail boats in their hundreds, power boats, kayaks, paddle boards and, of course, the ultra high performance fully-foiled 50 ft catamarans manned by the eight international teams taking part in the rand rix.
And if you’re not on the water, or watching the water, there is plenty to do on land. hether you’re a history or naval buff, into arts and culture, en oy excellent food and drink, love walking or shopping there is something for everyone in lymouth. ith its natural harbour and open access to the Atlantic, lymouth has always been of strategic importance from both a naval and pioneering point of view. The origins of the town were in lympton at the head of the tidal estuary of the river lym but as that silted up, ships used the harbour at the lym’s mouth instead. Always an important fishing town, it also became a great trading port of goods such as leather, tin and wool.
However, over time commercial trade dropped off as it grew as a naval base and ship construction town, building battleships for the oyal Navy. Huge dockyards were built in the nearby town of evonport. t also became the departure point for many historic sea voyages including the
May ower in 1 20 with the ilgrim athers on board to establish the second English colony in America. The first voyage of ames Cook in 1 aboard HMS Endeavour also set sail from here as did the second voyage of HMS Beagle in 1 1 with Charles arwin on board. But perhaps the most famous resident of lymouth was Sir rancis rake navigator, privateer and vice admiral of the oyal Navy. made sure walked past the bowls club where he reputedly insisted on finishing his game despite the threat of the
Spanish Armada off the coast. Supposedly the delay allowed the wind and tide to change in his favour.
Fortifying the town
The town was often the target of enemies from across the English Channel so in the early fifteenth century lymouth Castle was built to protect the Sutton ool which was where the naval eet was based before the creation of lymouth ock. Then in 1512 an Act of arliament was passed to further fortify lymouth. rake’s ort was built in 159 which later became the site for the oyal Citadel at the eastern end of lymouth overlooking the Sound. unded by a tax on every hogshead of pilchards exported from lymouth, it is a truly imposing sight with 0ft high walls made of limestone and granite. Since 19 2 it has been controlled by the 29 Commando egiment of the oyal Artillery who provide support to Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines.
To the west of the town near the river Tamar and opposite Mount Edgcumbe is oyal illiam ard. Built between 1 25 and 1 1, covering 1 acres, it was the main victualling depot of the oyal Navy and is the largest collection of rade military buildings in Europe. t was released from the Ministry of efence in 1992 and since then has benefitted from a 0 million refurbishment programme. f you visit in the evening when the walls glimmer in the sunset, or you arrive by ferry from the Barbican for lunch or to visit the arts and crafts markets, open air cinema or outdoor theatre, it is a magical place. was lucky enough to stay at Bistrot ierre’s esidence One which used to be an Admiral’s House. rom the secret garden at the back, where he used to stand every day to check on his eet in the harbour, you can see a stretch of the South est Coast ath which is a 0-mile long route from Minehead to oole. walked some of it in the evening and first thing the next morning and thoroughly en oyed the incredible views. And also watching the hive of activity as people umped on stand up paddleboards and sea kayaks, went coasteering, wakeboarding or open water swimming. was ready to ump in with them right then but later in the day when was back on lymouth Hoe in the bla ing sun, the place really wanted to dive into was the Tinside ido. A perfect turquoise, art deco, semi-circular saltwater pool utting out over the Sound it would have been the perfect spot to cool down while also being a great vantage point to watch the Sail races.
Image: Bob Martin from Sail GP
Sail GP
had watched the first three races on day one, marvelling at how rapid yet graceful the boats are. e were up close and personal with 1,000 other boats moored up in the Sound watching eight teams from all around the world competing in the third leg of this incredible yacht racing league after events in Bermuda and Taranto in taly. Unlike the America’s Cup where the boats vary massively in design and performance, these boats cost from -10 million and are all equal so no team should have a distinct advantage. But as lymouth Sound is a notoriously challenging venue with the wind coming at the boats from all directions, while one crew could experience a difficult pocket of wind one minute, another crew would manage to avoid it and whip ahead, exceeding speeds of 0mph. t was truly nail biting stuff to watch. The races saw on day one left the B team unfortunately trailing but on the second day the team, helmed by aul oodison, rallied superbly by winning the fifth race to land in fourth place overall ready for the next stage in enmark on August 20-21. eaving the bay behind, was interested to look around The Box which is the fully refurbished museum, art gallery and archive in the sky’ housing over 2 million ob ects in six collections that were previously scattered around the county. t opened in September 2020 costing million and it’s ust one of the venues in the city showing lymouth’s commitment to culture. The Market Hall with its 0 degree state-of-the-art immersive dome is another. This is definitely a city on the up so much re uvenation has taken place and a lot of that stems from all the work done for the May ower 00 commemorations last year. only had time to whi around the exhibitions but wish ’d had longer. The figurehead collection is wonderful fourteen 19th century wooden figureheads, weighing over 20 tonnes each, which previously graced the front of naval vessels have been completely restored and are now hung in the entrance to the Box. also en oyed all the interactive displays in each collection, as they really bring each story to life. Map aficionados will be thrilled to pore over the historical OS maps that can be overlaid with modern ones to chart changes over time. And there have been plenty of changes in the city particularly since because during the lymouth Blit more bombs were dropped here per head than on the east end of ondon. The lan for lymouth was designed to rebuild the city and construct wide, modern boulevards.
Image: Wayne Perry
Image: Summit Imagery
Walk this way
walked down the very grand and wide Armada ay en route to lymouth Hoe to start one of the lymouth Trails’ self guided walking tours. There are nine trails currently, with more in development including arts and wellbeing tours. They are so easy to use, you ust download the app which gives you maps to guide you around the city. Each stop has a mixture of text, photos and videos and some of them have image overlays to give you a now and then’ perspective. ou can listen to audio versions too, and in rench, Spanish and erman. And there are plenty of children’s activities to keep them occupied.
Some of the trails interlink, so was following the lymouth Hoe trail but crossed at points to take in Nancy Astor’s statue on the lymouth’s owerful omen tour and also the May ower Steps Memorial on the May ower trail. istance and accessibility guides are given so you know exactly what you’re getting into and the trails really bring the city and its residents to life. Standing in front of
Smeaton’s Tower I was able to easily visualise how it was built and why it was moved from its original position on the reef 1 miles offshore by reading the guide, looking at the images and watching a YouTube video. Then when I was looking at the naval memorials behind the tower could link to the Commonwealth ar raves website to look up a list of over 2 ,000 identified casualties of war.
A lot of hard work has patently gone into the trails by May ower 00 and associated partners including lymouth City Council, and into the regeneration of the city as a whole. There is such a bu and energy, and there’s more to come with the establishment of the U ’s first national marine park. The aim is to bring businesses and the community together to help people get out onto the Sound even more to promote health and wellbeing and also to showcase world class marine science, engineering and research. Seagrass beds are also being planted as it’s one of the best ways of capturing carbon.
Having done so much sightseeing you’ve got to have some relaxation finished my walking tour in the Barbican which is the oldest part of town with beautiful cobbled streets, a restored Eli abethan house and a whole host of places to eat. ou can also take a ferry from the Barbican to Cawsand ust along the coast in Cornwall to relax on beautifully secluded beaches.
Ice and a slice
Tempting as that sounded en oyed a delicious meal instead, cooked by chef Chris Tanner at the Barbican itchen, then oined a tour of the lymouth in distillery in the same building. As Sutton Harbour was a huge spice port in 1 9 when the distillery was established, the founder Thomas Coates had the pick of botanicals from all around the world to use in his gin. Apart from the obligatory uniper berries he settled on key citrus notes for his recipe and now the lemons and sweet eating oranges come from Spain. There are ussian coriander seeds, cardamom pods from uatemala, angelica from ermany and orris powder, which is the dried root of the iris ower, from taly. The local artmoor water makes the gin very soft and a slice of orange or lemon tops the lot off nicely.
Navy strength gin at 57% proof was given to sailors with angostura bitters to help ward off seasickness, and with lime uice to reduce the likelihood of scurvy. The navy was their biggest customer for a long time! Nowadays Sean Harrison is the master distiller and continues to make gin in the original copper pot still, overseeing the production of 1. million litres of lymouth gin a year. That’s a lot of gin. didn’t partake in the navy strength but as well as the standard 1.2 gin also tasted fruit cup made from orange, lemon and herbal liqueurs Mr ing’s gin which is purely made from uniper berries and is very silky, and the sloe gin made using 0 tonnes of local sloes every year. uite delicious and a perfect end to my trip. Cheers
www.visitplymouth.co.uk www.theboxplymouth.com www.sailgp.com www.royalwilliamyard.com www.bistrotpierre.co.uk www.barbicankitchen.com www.plymouthgin.com www.visitengland.com
