London to Plymouth

In some ways, flying from Bergen to London was the easy part of today. My final destination was Plymouth which will be my Cornwall base for the next 4 days. All I had to do was catch the Gatwick Express to London Victoria station, the Victoria line underground to Kings Cross, the Hammersmith line underground to Paddington then the train to Plymouth. Easy. The underground part of the trip was particularly convoluted because of maintenance - ordinarily I should have been able to catch the Circle line straight from Victoria station to Paddington. 

Anyway, I'm pleased to say it all went without a hitch. There were a few steps I had to navigate with cases, but overall it wasn't too bad. And once I finally made it to the train I pampered myself with a first class ticket to relax and take in the view. 

The train trip took 3.5 hours and I even managed to get to Plymouth a couple of hours earlier than I'd expected.

And the view was stunning. Third day in a row of incredible vistas. I feel so fortunate.  

Around Reading I saw lots of canals with barges. 

Then endless fields and towns. 

For a little while we tracked the south Devon coast. 

Before returning to green fields. 

When I arrived in Plymouth I just needed to walk 15 min to my accommodation.  Plymouth isn't a particularly picturesque town/city, but it will be a good base. As soon as I arrived I headed out to explore. I made my way to the shore and discovered you could walk up the old lighthouse. That was a good way to get a sense of the place. But then my camera battery died (and I hadn't swapped over my spare from the other bag) and it started to spot with rain. I decided to call it a day.

This time I'm staying in more guest house-like accommodation. Small, cosy but very well presented. I wasn't quite sure when I first arrived but I've warmed to it already. I'm sitting in the little bar sipping a beer while writing this blog. Nice.