PLYMOUTH

We stopped at Plymouth in May 2023 for no other reason than that it was a convenient place to spend the night during a rail strike. It turned out to be a good place to access otherwise difficult parts of the South West Coast Path, including Kingsand and Cawsand.

We checked out the steps where the pilgrims purportedly walked, ate at some rather good restaurants, and walked around the Royal Citadel, a historic fortress that’s defended the coastline since the 1600s. You can feel the flow of history while walking the narrow cobbled lanes of the Barbican, a circuit of ancient streets with 200 listed buildings of Tudor and Jacobean architecture. Lots of little shops and bakeries, which of course we sampled. ​

An important Royal Naval port, Plymouth is home to England’s biggest seaports and naval bases; you can often see frighteningly massive military ships out at sea.