Plymouth is easy to miss on the way to Cornwall. Running to the sun down the A30 doesn’t go remotely near the port city. Even following the A38 across the River Tamar at Saltash, you will barely see it and its magnificent natural harbour.

However, as we discovered during 2024’s Armchair Adventure Festival in Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, overlooking the Tamar Estuary and Devonport naval base, even a brief visit is rewarding!

An easy six-mile coast walk

With a couple of days free before the festival, we did a glorious coastal walk to the south. For several blissful miles, Cornwall’s impressive coastal scenery delighted with every turn. Then we picnicked where Kingsand’s steep, narrow lanes meet the sea.

Suitably refuelled, the easy six-mile hike ended after an inland stage back north to the Tamar’s sheltered shores. Then the rain began; but we were cosily indoors, enjoying delicious coffee and cake at The Farriers, in Mt Edgcumbe’s Barrow Centre.

The next day we took the ferry ride across the narrow passage from Cremyll to Plymouth’s Admiral’s Hard for seaborne perspective. Back ashore, the promenades led us east towards Barbican. At Plymouth’s famous Hoe, candy-striped Smeaton’s Tower stood proud. Below it, the impressive Art Deco Tinside Lido that has graced the rocky shore since 1935.

At lunchtime, and with four days’ festival food ahead, only something fishy hit the spot. The Pier Master’s House delighted with excellent fish and chips and fish pie. We ate outdoors overlooking the water. Later, very well fed, another leisurely voyage returned us to Cremyll via the impressively restored Royal William Yard.

A great day would have been even better had we met one of the Navy’s sinister black submarines navigating the narrows off Devil’s Point towards Devonport. Alas, we didn’t, but there were distant views of other grey-hued vessels over the following days. They were a constant reminder of Devonport’s importance. Founded in 1691, it’s still Western Europe’s largest naval base.

Microadventures whetted our appetites

Our coast wanderings – and an afternoon kayaking among moored yachts off idyllic Barn Pool Beach – were tame compared to festival tales of global adventuring. But for someone who’d never been closer to Plymouth than the spectacular lenticular trusses of Brunel’s railway bridge, our microadventures only whetted an appetite for the place.

Maybe next time you head for Kernow, like us, you’ll follow in the footsteps of Sir Francis Drake. Yes, he who, in 1588, coolly finished his game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe before sailing to defeat the Spanish Armada!