The sun is out, the sky is blue!

One great thing about traveling in small villages is that you can mingle with the locals. Tuesday night we stayed at a B&B, formerly a farm. The owners were an older couple, Eddie and Andree. The wife took very good care of us and she was quite the talker! She chatted with us for almost two hours over breakfast. She is from Basque Country in France. She also pulled out a walking map of England to show us the best places for views and walking.  She even offered to play "mother" and do my washing. We chatted about the weather, walking, Tintagel, the history of the area, Norway, energy efforts such as solar panels and wind turbines etc.  And of course we had a full English breakfast. When she asked if we wanted tea or coffee and we said we wanted tea, she said "oh you're becoming British!" When we declined lemon in our tea she said, "ah well you're not French yet." Before we left, she gave me sound advice, only do your cleaning when the weather is bad, when it's good, go out!

The sun finally broke through the clouds!

After we left the B&B, we went back to Plymouth to go the Mayflower and Sutton Harbor Museum. Plymouth has a long history that stretches back to prehistoric times. It was from Plymouth's Sutton Harbor that Sir Francis Drake sent out the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. 

It was also in Plymouth's Sutton Harbor that Catharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first of six wives, arrived in England in 1501 to marry Henry VIII's older brother. She was 15 years old. She stayed in Plymouth for a fortnight to recover from her journey. She married Henry VIII eight years later. Then he divorced her to marry Anne Boleyn, which in turn caused the break with Rome. So basically, as the museum noted, Plymouth was the starting place for the events that led to England becoming Protestant. 

Of course, Plymouth may be most famous as the port that sent forth the Mayflower to America. There were actually two ships set for America, the Mayflower and the Speedwell. In order to settle in the American colonies, the pilgrims had to make a deal with the Plymouth Bay Company to also bring along non-Puritans. These non-Puritans were called 'Strangers' and actually outnumbered the pilgrims. The pilgrims were not happy about this but they were determined to set sail and agreed to let the 'Strangers' sail with them. They set off from Southampton but because of boat leaks, pulled into Plymouth for repairs and stayed there for several weeks. The people in Plymouth were quite receptive towards the pilgrims and welcomed them in their homes. Finally, only the Mayflower set sail. I think you know the rest of that story! 

Sutton Harbor with a view of the Mayflower Memorial.

After touring the museum, we headed east. We had hoped to reach Barnardiston, the next ancestral stop, but traffic caused delays. What was interesting is that we passed through an area that is hilly and the soil is chalky. Carved into these chalky hills are figures, horses, giants etc. A handful date back to prehistoric times. We saw one such figure on a hill as we were driving by, it was a horse and it was big enough that you could see it from the road. It was quite the odd spectacle, a large white horse carved into the side of the hill! These horses resemble those that are featured on Celtic coins.

Cheers!

Elizabeth