Military Manoeuvres

Naval vessels gathering inside the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound, 

  at the end of a NATO exercise.

A helicopter coming in to land on the Promenade of Plymouth Hoe.

The calm before the storm

Barbara, the second named storm of this winter is heading across the Atlantic.

It should pass well north of us and we should only get winds of 40 miles per hour, 

not the gusts of 90 mph that are forecast for the North of Scotland.

Morning has broken

over the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound.

Two seasons in one day

The day dawned clear and still and the morning warmed into a perfect Indian Summer's day.

But by mid afternoon it looked as if our Indian Summer was rapidly coming to an end
as the storm clouds rolled in.

The Breakwater lighthouse

Work on the 1 mile breakwater was started in 1811 and took almost 30 years to complete. 

It transformed Plymouth Sound into safe anchorage, providing protection from the savage winter storms which regularly sweep up the English Channel from the Atlantic Ocean.

But clearly not needed on this beautifully calm summer morning

Sea Fever

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

John Masefield 1902

 

Plymouth Sound

This cloud formation looks like a giant wave breaking over the Breakwater.

The sea and the sky

Looking from the shore of Plymouth Sound, out beyond Drake's Island. towards the Breakwater.

The sea and the sky

Looking from the shore towards the Breakwater and its lighthouse in Plymouth Sound.

Winter Silhouette

Looking out into Plymouth Sound towards Drake's Island and the Breakwater Lighthouse.

Winter Light

A grey day provides the best light

                                                                            Leonardo da Vinci

Britain's Ocean City (2)

Looking out from the Devonport Column,
down onto the River Tamar where it flows into Plymouth Sound.

The 40 metre high mast, on the green hill of Mount Wise,
marks the spot on which was built The Mount Wise Redoubt ,
the guns of which could control all movement in and out of the River.

The grey, military-looking complex, just beyond the Redoubt, is The Royal William Yard ,
once the main victualling depot for the Royal Navy now redeveloped as a complex of apartments, restaurants, bars and boutiques.

Just beyond the Royal William Yard, in The Sound, is Drake's Island , which is just off Plymouth Hoe.

The small island on the horizon is The Mew Stone
which lies just beyond the eastern end of The Plymouth Breakwater  

Sheltering inside the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound

Creating this one mile long Breakwater took thirty years, from 1811 to 1841

and has provided 1,000 acres of safe anchorage in Plymouth Sound ever since.

Just as it did a few days ago for these two small ships.