Back to Brixham, then to Torcross

You may remember a couple weeks back I visited Brixham but left in a hurry as my parking meter was running out. Well, there were still things to see and I wanted to buy a piece of art I had found last time, so off we went. After finding a parking spot, Bruce headed for a pub while I started my search for street art. There are a number of online guides for finding the art around Brixham, but I found them a bit problematic. They're organized by subject matter rather than location. Another issue I had was that I'm not familiar with the town and the directions assume a certain amount of local knowledge. Nonetheless I started out to see what I could see. The first couple of pieces were in the car park itself.

Here's half of "D-Day and Churchill." The other half was blocked by a large truck.

It's a wonderful image, but it's quite a shame that it's almost invisible against the chaos of the area , as below, and they are often blocked by parked cars.

Still in the parking lot, there's a "Dr. Who and COVID" mural, but it was partially obscured by a garbage bin and a parked van. Pity.

When I turned back to the first wall I was happy to see that the truck that had been blocking the second half of the mural was gone, so I was able to see the rest of "D-Day and Churchill."

Across the street from the parking lot near the bus station is "Shadows of World War 1"

Poppies are symbolic of that war and on remembrance day people wear poppy pins on their lapels. How appropriate that there was a poppy in bloom in front of this installation.

I walked down Bolton Street and found "Neptune and His Sea Horse" over the Brixham Charity Shop.

I walked a bit further but didn't find anything so I retraced my steps along Bolton Street and saw "The Fisherman and the Syren."

Back in the parking lot another car had moved so I was able to see an installation similar to the Shadows of WW1, but of Winston Churchill and what I assume was meant to be the British lion.

I finally got out of the parking lot area and down a small alley I found what is known as "The Adela BM79 Mural."

Where the alley narrows, there's a mural that covers most of the side of a building. Unfortunately, the alley is so narrow that there's no way to capture the whole image, so here it is in two parts. "Sailing Boats"

I walked along the harbor and the Golden Hind replica

and found the next piece, "Tides," on the Quay.

Walking past Rockfish restaurant and onto the Coastal path I spotted the "Sea Life Mosaic."

There are some commercial works that line the left wall of the building that houses Rockfish, but they aren't included on the official list of street art.

I love these multi-colored houses that overlook the harbor.

I found the last painting as I was walking up Middle Street. "Middle Street Shops"

When viewed from across the street, the perspective of the painting makes it look like it's a continuation of the row of shops.

Just up the street from that mural I found my new friend Lynne at her gallery, Colours of Brixham. I wrote about the gallery in my first post about Brixham. It is the home of the artwork of three sisters, Janet Balland, Elaine Cavicchia, and Lynne Peets. I had picked out a print of Lynne's when I was there before, but I was concerned that I would have trouble bringing it back to the US because it was matted and too large for my suitcase. Lynne, being the sweetheart that she is, removed it from the mat and rolled it up for me. While I was there I found a couple more pieces that I couldn't live without, so she rolled up the lot in a sturdy mailing tube which will be much easier to transport. We had a lovely chat and found out we have a lot in common. I learned that her father had moved to Brixham in the 1930's because there was a lively social scene and he was a musician. He played violin at tea dances in the afternoon, then switched to trumpet and played jazz in the evenings. Lynne and her sisters grew up in Brixham and their love of the area shows in their art. (Lynne is on the right:

Oh, I forgot to mention that it turns out that Lynn is one of the creative geniuses behind the Shadows of World War 1 and the "Middle Street Shops" mural. Is there anything she can't do?

Here's where I have to admit to being a real dummy. I spent nearly an hour visiting with Lynne and looking at the wonderful paintings and yet I failed to take a single photograph inside the shop, just a photo of the sign in front.

Well, I'll just have to go back again in the fall and correct that.

You may remember me referring to the Dartmouth ferry, aka the floating bridge, in my Dartmouth post. Well, on the way home our route took us there. There was a rather long line of traffic on the approach

but once the ferry was docked the loading process went quite quickly.

Then we were on our way.

As you approach the shore you can see the cables that guide the ferry back and forth.

We were then off along more incredibly narrow streets and on our way

past Blackpool Sands beach

and down the coast to Torcross.

Our destination was the Start Bay Inn where we'd had wonderful fish and chips last fall.

The thatch roofed inn dates to the 14th century when it was originally known as the Fisherman's Arms and was used by the local fishermen who worked their fishing boats from the village beach in front of the pub. That's one bit of local history, but there's another one as well, which is much sadder.

It's in the form of this tank which is a memorial to the 946 American soldiers who lost their lives during a training exercise at Slapton beach, Torcross.

"Exercise Tiger," as it was known, was a rehearsal for the D-Day landing on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. The location was chosen because this area of the Devon coast bore a strong resemblance to the Normandy coast. As part of the build-up to D-Day, in 1943 some 3,000 local residents were evacuated from their homes in order for the American military to carry out exercises. Exercise Tiger was designed to be as realistic as possible and on 22nd April 1944 it began. Landing craft loaded with soldiers, tanks and equipment were deployed along the coast.

However, unbeknown to the military, under cover of darkness nine German E-boats had managed to slip in amongst them in Lyme Bay. Two landing ships were sunk and a third badly damaged. Lack of training on the use of life vests, heavy packs and the cold water contributed to the disaster: many men drowned or died of hypothermia before they could be rescued.

Despite this, the rest of the exercise continued at Slapton beach, but with disastrous results. The practice assault included a live-firing exercise and many more soldiers were tragically killed by ‘friendly fire’ from the supporting naval bombardment.

Because of fears of its impact on morale, the terrible loss of life during the exercise was not revealed until long after the war.

The tank that stands as the memorial to these events was raised from the seabed in 1984. Local resident Ken Small, who campaigned for years to recover the Tank, uncovered the whole heartrending story while researching how the tank came to be lying just off the beach, and produced his best-selling book, The Forgotten Dead, that tells the whole story.

And just across from the memorial, holidaymakers swim and fish. I do hope they take the time to read about the tank and spare a thought for all those killed.