25th March 2014
A typical Devon cream tea - with thick clotted cream, raisin scones and fruity strawberry jam!
A few more photos from my stay in New York at the impressive New York Y.C., where I received the C.C.A.'s Blue Water Medal on 7th March. Photos (by CCA's Dan Nerney) give a good view of the famous N.Y.Y.C Model Room, its walls covered with half-models of boats dating from around 1840 onward, as well as scale models of the pairs of America's Cup yachts from its beginning to recently.
Here's a link to my CBS interview on 5th March in New York
The next day was beautifully sunny and I enjoyed Central Park, where the snow was rapidly melting....
followed by a visit to the New York Metropolitan Art Museum to see, among many other interesting items, a performance by some North American Indian dancers and some beautiful bronzes of cowboys and indians in action (photos: Carol Ross):
The week after my flight to London, I drove down to Devon. I spent several days with friends, one evening giving a presentation to Salcombe Y.C. and one day enjoying a lovely walk through the countryside in Spring sunshine. Devon is full of tiny narrow lanes, winding around the hilly countryside between deep banks, and the wild violets and primroses were all fully out, along with occasional cowslips and lots of daffodils. It's full of old buildings and sturdy stone walls & gate-posts, many about five hundred years old:
The walk was to Slapton Ley and started from Stokenham. It was in an area taken over by US troops in WWII to practise for the Normandy landings - but 749 were killed in a major disaster when German boats caught them one night, virtually unprotected as the troop-carriers were offshore practising. It took Kevin Small, a local, many years to uncover the truth - along with recovering one of the many Sherman tanks that still lie on the seabed. It's still not known where the US soldiers' & sailors' bodies were buried - in a field, I was told, somewhere near to Slapton Sands which they used because that coast is similar to the Normandy beaches used for the landings. All the local families had been evacuated from their homes in the entire area of our walk to make way for the troops - a major upheaval for them, in already difficult times.
View W over Slapton Ley, looking over to Start Point in the distance and the beach (Slapton Sands) on the left. The tank is beside Slapton Ley.
