Dartmouth and other places – Part Two

The Slapton Sands disaster - Operation Tiger was a rehearsal for the D-Day landings. It was meant to be a training exercise in preparation for the D-Day landings, but Operation Tiger off the coast of Devon went wrong with disastrous consequences.

A fleet of eight German E-boats attacked the allied forces and as a result, more than 700 soldiers and sailors died. The incident, which was kept secret until the 1980s, struck during an eight-day exercise, which used the beach in Slapton, south Devon, to practice for the D-Day landings.
This small section of the South Devon coast was transformed into a battlefield. The locals moved out and thousands of American Army and Navy troops moved in. There were full scale rehearsals, carried out using live ammunition. Vital practice for the planned assaults on Omaha and Utah beaches. Just 6 weeks before D-Day,
Here I am at the memorial tank which was recovered from the sea bed.

    Slapton Sands








 Slapton Sands in about 1910 taken from Tor Cross










 Seen in Tor Cross

Blackpool Sands – this is probably one of the best beaches in South Devon. The photo was taken from the top of the bus. We used the buses for the majority of our journeys, it was stress free and we didn’t have the problem of parking and the big plus was the views.

Geocaching on the edge of Kingsbridge.

Kingsbridge

One of our days out was to Greenway. This visit gave us a glimpse into the private holiday home of the famous author Agatha Christie and her family. The relaxed and atmospheric house is set in the 1950s, and contains many of the family's collections, including archaeology, Tunbridgeware, silver, botanical china and books (guess the author?). Outside we explored the large, steep woodland garden, with a restored vinery, wild edges and rare plantings.
The house has very limited parking so it is recommended that you arrive by boat, bike or on foot. We went by boat.
View of Dartmouth Quay as we leave.

Sue outside Greenway.

View from the gardens down the River Dart.

Our transport arriving for the return trip.

The boathouse at Greenway. This had a saloon upstairs and a plunge pool below. The pool could only be used when the tide was in and didn’t look at all inviting (muddy).
 
The Harvey family who lived at Greenway from 1851 –1882 had fought a proposal for a railway to run across Greenway land down to Greenway Quay from where passengers could travel on to Dartmouth by boat. A compromise was agreed with the building of the Greenway tunnel that runs under Greenway and today transports tourists along the steam railway from Paignton to Kingswear. Unfortunately the station restaurant was built on the Dartmouth side of the river before permission was refused for the railway line to terminate in Dartmouth. The railway company used to run a ferry service to link the railway with the restaurant. Nothing’s changed with today's planners!
The low point of our holiday was that I (Stuart) was mugged on Dartmouth Quay. Sue and I were sitting quietly on a bench and just about to eat our picnic lunch when he pounced. Coming in from behind we had no warning and then part of my sandwich was gone! To make matters worse the mugger didn’t even take the cling film off!
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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MUGGER?