Pete's Favourite Things

The Messenger is a large bronze statue of a crouching woman which stands outside The Theatre Royal in Plymouth. It is by the Cornish sculptor Joseph Hillier.

It is based on an actress in the play Orthello, which Hillier observed when attending a rehearsal at the theatre. Others have been less kind dubbing it as a skateboarder, a surfer or even a female sumo wrestler.

The harbour trip around Plymouth’s harbours leaves from Sutton Harbour near to the place from where the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to the new world in 1620 in the ship Mayflower, where they founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Making our way past the Hoo, where Frances Drake is reputed to have been playing bowls in 1588 when he heard that the Spanish Armada fleet was approaching England.

Crossing Plymouth Sound, a large natural harbour, we first pass the Old Dockyard and Provisioning centre, which has now been converted to residential and business use.

We then pass the current Naval Harbour with ships being maintained or awaiting decommissioning.

Travelling back across the sound there are views of HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the two new Aircraft Carriers in the Royal Navy, which is moored outside the harbour.

Just outside the entrance to the Royal Citadel at Plymouth Hoo stands the memorial to 29 Commando Royal Artillery, who are based at the Citadel. It was unveiled in 2011 and commemorates the men of 29 Commando who have died in service since the regiment was formed in 1962.