Hedonism in Plymouth (hard to believe we know)

Oh yes, a good time was had by all. Izzy got plenty of exercise, sticks, balls etc thrown for her, cuddles from many many people, treats from most places that we visited including the marina office and permanent attention. We are creating a monster to give back to Anne soon. Sorry Anne.

The Hoe is always good for a walk (or a game of bowls if you are a proper old seafarer according to the history books).  The monuments to the loss of life in various conflicts:
:

are made very real when you walk through the grim city centre which was a rebuild after the bombing in World War II. Pity they did it with ugly square soulless concrete monstrosities though.

Izzy was having a good run off the lead on the Hoe until she decided that an ugly little black puppy with what seemed to be no legs was not allowed to nip and bark at her. Izzy promptly went into mummy dog mode, flattened the puppy and held her by the scruff of her neck. Lead time for Izzy again after she tried the "I am so cute that butter would not melt in my mouth" look:

Saltash and the coffee come bistro come wine bar stop known as Just Be is always a good trip. We enjoyed a gentle and very tasty lunch there helped down by some equally nice wine. You get good views of Brunel's last engineering feat from the window seats too - the Tamar rail bridge:

Back on board, Izzy had fun showing off her bits and playing with her new toy. Playing means gently removing the stuffing and distributing it all around the boat it seems.

To save her blushes, we have used the picture with a strategically placed hind paw in it.

Then we went into being sociable mode. Robert and Deborah (The Nauticat yacht "Crazy Diamond" owners and sloe gin experts who you've met in here before) came to the marina, joined us for a most enjoyable lunch ashore and then kindly took us shopping by car. That is such a treat. No need to drag loads of heavy stuff back in smaller amounts over many trips (yes we know, a trolley shopper would help but we are STILL not old enough for one!)

Malaspina, another Nordhavn 47 owned by Martin and Inge the pilot folks who have also been in this diatribe before arrived in Plymouth after a run from Guernsey and we met them in the city for dinner. More lovely people - must be the boating thing that attracts nice, interesting types.

Talking of interesting people, we could stretch a point and report that Captain Rae is no longer titled, having hung up his Boeing 787 keys for the last time and joined us in the world known as not working. We might even get to say hello to plain old Mr Rae during the summer as he will not be quite as time constrained as before.

There was no rush to leave Plymouth as you can see:

The entire UK coast shown in red means force 6 or above everywhere. The old phrase "nowhere to hide" springs to mind.