I’m going to be in Plymouth next month whilst my son is at a diving competition for four days. I’ll have my daughter and would like suggestions of things we can do for two or three hours inbetween competitions. Also after recommendations for good cheap places to eat.

Cap’n Jaspers!

Head down to the Barbican there is Rockets & Rascals bike shop, they’ve or used to have a Tomac Yeti on the wall and they do all that fancy pants coffee. The NMA and lots of nice cafe’s bars and walking around the Hoe is lovely. The Central Museum is very good.

Assume you’ll be in Central Park? it’s a bit of a drive to get down to the centre so it depends on how long you actually have between rounds as to how much you can expect to do.

Rest of the city is hit & miss, and like any city some of it is best avoided to see the place in it’s best light.

coke and hookers smokes and doggers?

*edit

I’ll have my daughter

Oops. Avoid Plymouth. Noss Mayo?

But seriously, if it must be Plymouth then the National Seaquarium is well worth a visit.

Aquarium next to the Barbican, on a nice day the Barbican is nice for a wander and as above, get a Cap’n Jaspers for sure. The Hoe is nice on a nice day too.

I used to go to college in Plymouth yrs ago. Took a trip there 10 or so yrs ago and my lasting memory is of a man beating his wife up in the hoe in front of their kids. Someone tried to stop him then they both pitched into him. Nice. Sort of summed up Plymouth or at least my experience of it over the 3 yrs I was there. Plenty of nice places around the area, Dartmoor, the coast etc.

Well that was helpful

Dartmoor Zoo is great – small but great – edit missed ZOO!!

Burrator is lovely walk, cycle, run

Never had any problems in 3 years of uni there.

Wembury beach is nice with a little surf sometimes. Bantham Beach better for a little drive

And any sea fishing boat trip off the Barbican will catch something

the life centre where you’ll be at is a decent walk away from anything of great interest. probably half hour walk up onto the hoe or into the barbican. the closest set of shops/cafes etc is mutley plain (15-20min walk) but its quite studenty.

royal william yard is worth a look.

dartmoor is an easy drive if you get the right time of day. If you don’t it can be proper shit. they are digging up outland road by the diving centre and derriford on the outskirts of town as well. if you time it wrong it’ll take you 45mins to get from the outskirts of plymouth back to the diving centre.

Take the car ferry to Whitsand Bay. Nice beach, big walk down and then back up and take great care on tides and being cut off.

You could just stay at the LifeCentre.
Decent swimming pool including a flume, etc, if your daughter is into that.
An indoor climbing wall, an ‘alright’ cafe and all the other stuff you’d expect in a big modern sports centre.

Failing that, I’d head to the Barbican. Get some lunch at Rockets and Rascals and take a wander. I do exactly this with my kids all the time with no real agenda. Its an easy place to while a way a few pleasant hours.
There are plenty of boat trips that leave from Mayflower Steps on the Barbican too.

Oh and in reference to burko73 comments – like any city in the entire world Plymouth has some people that are unpleasant. Tarnishing an entire town due to them seems odd though. I’ve lived here for 15 years now and never experienced any issues at all.

Oh and in reference to burko73 comments – like any city in the entire world Plymouth has some people that are unpleasant. Tarnishing an entire town due to them seems odd though. I’ve lived here for 15 years now and never experienced any issues at all.

come on. plymouth is a bit of a shithole.

its quite an endearing shithole but a shithole nonetheless.

which is why I live in Tavistock… 8)

Is the strange cafe at the Derrys Cross end of Royal Parade still there?
Although I assume that the roller-skating rink next door to The Thistle Park Tavern has gone.

While Plymouth City Centre may not be the prettiest City Centre the areas not far outside Plymouth are stunning

The one that’s an orange cave? The Gorge…

i believe its been painted white.

That’s a travesty, skull crushing hangovers seemed to vanish into the mid 1970’s in that place

Go easy. I spent 3 yrs there and it was proper iffy. That was a long time ago though. I did live in stonehouse though!

In relation to that yeti tomac, I actually saw tomac do the pipeline descent at newnham park at some xc event. That descent was considered proper hard at the time!

I even got a lap on my ’93 clockwork which I think was rigid at the time and I just about made it, my mate went over the bars near,y I think.

Sure Plymouth has changed but for me the area around it is so nice that where I’d focus.

And since when has anyone criticised anyone on here for being unhelpful! 😉

Burko73 – The Tomac replica Yeti is ours (Silverfish). We lend Rockets and Rascals some of our collection now and then.
Weirdly I also watched Tomac ride the pipeline and ALSO rode it myself on a Clockwork.

I now live less than a minute from Newnham Park 🙂

Somewhere different to eat – in the covered market in the city centre there’s a recently-opened Vietnamese/Thai café upstairs on the Mezzanine called @Kitchen – reasonably priced, and excellent food. Can be very busy at lunchtime (perhaps as a result of it being ranked #1 eating place in Plymouth, according to Trip Advisor) but its worth the wait.

Richie

Those were the days. Still got my clockwork. Built up as a single speed pub bike now. It’s a great ride still. I think we just snuck on the course the day that practice laps were allowed or something. That must have been over 20 yrs ago.

I saw Tomac ride the pipeline, and I then riode it on a rigid Clockwork!

Thanks folks. We’re going to be there for 5 days, mostly be at the life centre but will need to get out for fresh air at least once a day. Is the central park a good place to have a kick about or play with a Frisbee? Also what’s parking like in Plymouth? Will it be easier to walk or bus it into the centre?

Another pipeline veteran here 🙂 rode it during the world cup open practices, and then raced it when the BMBF rounds were held there.

Central park used to be big and open enough to get fresh air breaks, not been there recently to know for sure though. I would definitely make time to get down to the Hoe and Barbican though.

there is a park & ride next to the life centre so pretty easy to bus it. not a hard walk though if the weather is nice.

central park is quite nice. used to be a dual course round the back of the argyle ground but long since gone.

Visit around the place, Tavistock, Dartmoor, all the places either side up the Tamar on the way.

And cap’n jaspers – even though it is too big these days. (lived there in 88-90 and go back occasionally)

You can’t beat cap’n jaspers price for a cup of tea!

Only go Plymouth when we need something we can’t get in Truro…. even then it’s worth going a bit further into Exeter…… Only really go if we want to go to the aquarium….
It’s quite a nice walk up around Hoe park, some interesting history there.
Hubbox just outside Drake Circus isn’t bad for a post burger, though not the cheapest of places…

Not too far away is Buckfast Abbey, which is quite nice to walk around and grab a tea etc. South Devon Railway in the same area.

Exeter is quite a nice City, lovely walk around the City walls, and the under ground tunnel tour is well worth it.

Paignton Zoo is good but IIRC it was expensive last time we went.

Exeter is shit compared to what’s on offer in Plymouth, really it is, it likes to think it isn’t but it is.

*resident of Exeter

We need an “I rode the pipeline before/ with/ after tomac” thread

I’ve just gone back to a rigid bike, harking back to the clockwork days. Brown ritchey zmax tyres don’t come up on eBay that much these days though….

For evening food, a couple of the greek restaurants specialise in beef & steaks – they’ve been fantastic when i’ve been in.

Exeter is shit compared to what’s on offer in Plymouth, really it is, it likes to think it isn’t but it is.

*resident of Exeter

Don’t know stayed a couple of nights in both places, apart from the Barbican I prefer Exeter, it’s a further 15-20mins or so but I don’t need to pay to get into Devon…. though Temple pain atm… but better shopping imho which is the only reason we go tbh… we did explore as far as The Quay last time we were up, very nice down there.

If I was ten years younger without kids I would probably prefer Plymouth for the copious amounts of cyder on tap….

Royal William Yard for a sit down place to eat. Lots of places to choose from.
Dartmoor zoo is good, but steep!
Dartmoor generally lovely in the right weather. Try burrator reservoir as previously mentioned. Or a walk up around Princetown easy going for daughter.
Barbican can be good and there is a great ice cream parlour opposite rockets.
Walk round The Hoe is good.
Lots of great places mentioned already.
Also plymouth isn’t that bad at all. Grew up here. Then left for work lived/worked in Birmingham/manchester/Cheltenham and Bristol. Saw far worse up there than I ever have in plymouth!

if your into beer awsome new craft beet shop opened in plymouth called vessel.

alternativlet get the cremyll foot ferry over to kernow.

cawsand has a few lovley pubs/restuarants namley the devonport.
bowls of muscles over looking the sea outside is my fave!

Rame heads lovely walk if your over that side too