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| HMS Victory |
Our first stop today was at the Historic Plymouth
Dockyard to tour the HMS Victory. The HMS
Victory is a 104-gun sailing ship that was launched in 1765 and is best known
for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
against the combined French and Spanish fleets. The significance of Nelson’s
victory meant that Napoleon would be unable to invade England as he couldn’t
control the English Channel during the crossing, so England was spared an
invasion. Nelson did not survive the battle, however, being shot by a French
sniper on the main deck and in full view (where admirals traditionally stood) and
there are spots on the ship marking where he was shot and below decks where he
died. Nelson is by far England’s foremost naval hero.
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| Deck with Twelve 12-pound Cannons (per side) |
The ship was a
surprisingly interesting tour as the audio guide made you feel that you were
actually part of the crew during the battle of Trafalgar.
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| Royal Pavilion (Brighton) |
From Plymouth we drove east along the English coast to
Brighton. Brighton is due south from
London and a favorite spot where the English go when they want to go to the
beach. However as it was mid-May and still very cool with a strong breeze off
the water, we wonder how many actual beach days they would get. Brighton has
two famous sights, the Royal Pavilion and the pier. The Pavilion was built by
George III and used up through Queen Victoria’s time as a royal seaside
resort. It’s now open to the public, but
it really didn’t interest us enough to tour.
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| Brighton Pier |
Brighton Pier is really very similar to any of
the piers along the New Jersey shore with amusement rides and shops.
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| Seven Sisters |
From Brighton we headed further east and were surprised
to discover that the famous White Cliffs aren’t only in Dover but actually extend
from Brighton all the way to Dover in the east. The cliffs are formed by white
chalk which gives them their white coloration. They are quite high and the
cliffs at Dover are visible from France which is at the narrowest part of the
English Channel. While the cliffs at Dover are famous from the song The White Cliffs of Dover, they are best
seen from the channel and you can get a better view of white cliffs elsewhere
and so we chose to see the cliffs at the Seven Sisters, located in Sussex just
east from Brighton. It is a spectacular view and not crowded with tourists.
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