Day 7 Monday May 19th Dartmouth Naval College

 It was quite a grey, cool start to the day for us. We breakfasted, had a little walk during which the Spanish galleon weighed anchor and left Dartmouth. We filmed a bit of it.  It would have looked good in full sail but we did not have time to check that out.  We had to go to the bandstand rendezvous place where we joined the party for a tour of the naval college.  Our ID was checked and our tickets before boarding a coach for the short drive to the college.  Our guide, Ben, was a former trainee at the college and was thus able to give a full insight into its workings and methods.  We left the bus and assembled at the flagstaff in front of the college.  From there he history of the training of naval officers on former ships and eventually in 1905 at the college was given.  All too much to take in but it was obviously very thorough from early days.  I could not get the familiar facade in one photo and so took a brief video. The captain of 

the dining hall

the ship/establishment lived in the eastern end section.  We began our tour at the western end which contained the dining hall.  At the front of it was a silver dish 

Nelson's silver plate

from Lord Nelson's at sea dining service. The hall had a very attractive and ornate ceiling.  

We came outside again and the passing out parades and procedures were explained.  

coat of arms above main door

Ben was good at giving anecdotes and making the story interesting.  After passing out the cadets have to go through the quite narrow main door with their swords in their hands - sometimes a challenge!.  Another one of the challenges faced by cadets was to be able climb the ship's mast which here is 

the ship's mast?

firmly bedded on land.  We walked over to a garden at the eastern end 

where the young royals met

of the building  and it was here that Queen Elizabeth first met Prince Philip.  Elizabeth was then 13 and so that introduction worked well.

We proceeded to the college chapel which was quite plain but had some very interesting architectural features.  Some of the stone was acquired locally.  There was a 

nave of chapel

model of an earlier ship called the Brittania hanging from the ceiling.  After the chapel we saw the 

front of the chapel

coats of arms of deceased naval knights of the garter and spent some time in the college museum.  We proceeded to the quarterdeck (the main meeting hall of the college) which had suffered bomb damage in the last war.  There were various fine artifacts of previous centuries around the entrance etc.  We had a comfort break and then time to visit the souvenir shop before heading outside to the coach and back to Dartmouth.  A very interesting and inexpensive tour which we would recommend.

Back in Dartmouth we went to M&S (where have I said that before!), bought a picnic and enjoyed it in the park with the sun now shining.  We then had some shopping time with me tasked with finding somewhere for us to eat this evening.  we each managed to shop a bit and when we met up I had arranged a venue for our dinner.  We had an ice cream on the quayside and went back to our room for a rest/reset.  Our dinner at 630 was good and so I was in the good books and then we walked along to Bayards Cove fort which was another defence for the town - it was interesting and largely intact. We walked back still in sunlight and I may add some photos from this time a bit later.  An interesting end to a good day.