Day 16 Thursday, April 25th Dartmouth Devon

 We both enthuse about the county of Devon and were looking forward to seeing Dartmouth where we had never been before.  When we arose we were moored in the river Dart opposite the town and so there was hardly any movement.  We had not booked to go on an excursion and so after breakfast we made our way below to be ferried to the landing stage.  We had decided to walk around the interesting town and return to the boat for lunch as we were due to sail in the early afternoon.  

mid-town architecture

You immediately notice 

more old architecture

that this town has a lot of character with its old buildings and strong nautical associations and quality boat numbers.  We did the touristy bits of the town, admiring the ancient architecture and how well it had withstood the ravages of time 

church interior

and visited the parish church which still seemed to be a very

Totnes/Dartmouth train

 active part of the community.  We found a waterfront hotel which produced a good cup of coffee and then revisited a couple of shops where we were interested in buying. We made some purchases but then I realised I had left  my camera in the hotel where we had coffee.  I quickly retraced my steps and the camera was still hung over the back of the chair - phew!  We walked a bit further along the riverside and watched the Totnes/Dartmouth steam train arrive and depart.  

We wandered back to the landing stage and went back to the Maud for lunch.  When everyone was back on board the boat was released from its moorings and 

royal naval college

we started towards the mouth of the river and the open sea.  We went to the top deck

aft rope removal

 to watch the releasing of the stern  ropes and from the deck it was possible to photograph the royal naval college.  When we made it out to sea it was relatively calm and the ship made her way into the shipping lanes on her way to Dover.

Late  afternoon and evening were spent hearing messages and getting organised for our disembarkation tomorrow morning. We paid our bills, packed and attached the special labels required.  Our suitcases had to be outside our cabin 2300.  We  had an early night as it was going to be all go tomorrow morning.