Exeter to Plymouth

Leaving Exeter for the relatively short journey to Plymouth, we turned inland so that we could cross Dartmoor. This was a very pleasant drive on quite a sunny day. There were a lot of people in the National Park, some there to go walking, others like us who were just driving and sightseeing. A popular attraction was the little Dartmoor ponies who seemed quite accustomed to human presence.
We carried on through the moor past Princetown, joining up with the A386 which took us right into Plymouth. Garth was to leave us at Plymouth and travel back to London by train so we made a point of finding the railway station as soon as we reached the city centre so that we would know where to come back to mid-afternoon. Like many English towns which have gown over many years with no coherent planning until quite recently, Plymouth was confusing to find our way around. While trying to find our way to The Barbican where the information centre is located, we came across a couple of Police Constables on the beat and they were kind enough to direct us. Of course, being a fine Sunday in Autumn, the next problem was to find a carpark but we managed to locate one down by the wharf below the Hoe. From there it was a short walk to the Barbican information centre where we were able to get information about hotels etc. After lunch we went to a Holiday Inn just nearby and they had a room available (and parking and elevators!). I did the initial part of the check in thinking that would save time after dropping Garth back at the railway station.

Now that we knew our way around Plymouth, or at least the parts that mattered, we were able to take Garth back to the railway station without getting lost at all, although the Sunday afternoon traffic was a bit of a pain. Arriving back at the hotel, the receptionist couldn't find our check in information even though it was only 45 minutes since we had been there! Eventually we got it sorted out.

On Monday morning, rather than eat an overpriced but mostly unneeded breakfast in the hotel, we made our way back down to the Barbican and had breakfast in a little cafe there. After breakfast we went back to the info centre to see if they would be able to book us some self-catering accomodation but while they have information available on such, apparently they don't do bookings. Anyway we found a coffee shop and I was able to call and make a booking myself. We had located, in one of the tourism guides we picked up along the way, some self-catering cottages (Crylla Valley Cottages) at Saltash just across the Tamar River not far west of Plymouth. Normally such cottages are let on a Saturday in-out basis but, being ouside the high season, they were happy to let us have one for three nights. The directions they gave us for finding the place were spot on and it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made during the holiday. The cottages are fairly new and the one that we had, had lounge, kitchen, dining downstairs and fully kitted out with washing machine/drier. Upstairs was the large double bedroom and bathroom facilities. Heating was by electric storage heaters which were quite adequate even when it turned quite chilly on our second night there.

Being self-catering of course we had to stock up on some food items but there is a Waitrose Supermarket near Saltash which carried everything that we needed so we were able to set up a nice little base for our Cornish explorations.