For those of you that don’t already know..........every single snap on this website is taken from one place -

our garden in Above Town, Dartmouth, Devon, England

Friday 19th April 2024 - 9.30am

It's getting busier and busier. On the water, in the air and certainly on the (many) building sites.

Do also look inside the January, February and March albums.

TVFTDO is a unique record of life in, on, around and above the wonderful river Dart.

See all of last years albums here.

You can also take a look at The Pick of TVFTDO.

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Well done for getting this far. You now have a choice. Continue on below looking at the previous updates or heading inside to look at  ALL the March photos. For every one here on the front page there are ten more inside. February pix here

PREVIOUS UPDATES

28 March 2024 - 07:57:55

Storm Nelson arrived with some unsettling winds. Well, they unsettled the car ferries. I noticed one of the Lower ferries seeming to have problems keeping a straight course - it soon headed for its own pontoon refuge. In the meantime the other tug and barge combination tried to deliver its load from Kingswear into Dartmouth. It took two attempts. The Higher Ferry was also moored up, but the crew of the passenger ferry carried on.

You can see the whole thing with lots more pix inside. Just click the pic.

26 March 2024 - 12:05:43

There's little better than a good head of steam. Well, yes there is....two good heads of steam.

Here's Goliath (5239) and Lydham Manor (7827) striding out in a blaze of the white stuff.

27 March 2024 - 15:43:55

Theis Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter (ZZ517) has just taken off from the parade ground at BRNC.  

My camera is level, it's the pilot putting on a show as he departs.

27 March 2024 - 15:43:35

Just seconds earlier ZZ517 was ascending flat and level as it passed the Golden Hind atop the mast.

27 March 2024 - 14:43:20

The rainbow bridge. Well, the virtual rainbow bridge

27 March 2024 - 13:29:45

Not often seen inthe same room together. Both of Dart Harbour's lifting cranes working hard to renstate the Kingsweartrots before Easter.

26 March 2024 - 12:14:14

This JD is probably ploughing a mile a way from the Daymark. Perspective does that.

A strange way of looking at things. Quite gives one a different viewpoint.

Enough of the punning pontiificating. It's Mr John Deere the farming turning over a few acres.

25 March 2024 - 15:55:46                                                                                25 March 2024 - 15:56:02

25 March 2024 - 15:56:06                                                                                25 March 2024 - 15:56:11

One up, one down. One back up, both down.

How to repair the motor, John.

The rib's engine needed looking at and so the crew went under the hood.

Or, in this case as in most boats,  under the seat.

22 March 2024 - 14:22:23

Yetanother rebuild project underway in Kingswear.

Peak activity is all we'll get to see.

24 March 2024 - 22:06:42

It's a rare sight.And so it ought to be acknowledged and recorded.

30 March 2024 - 12:40:00

The Dartmouth Castle Ferry ride is frequently and rightly described as the best little ferry trip in Britain.

Well, on Easter Saturday passengers got their money's worth and more. Some might have found it a bit overwhelming.

28 March 2024 - 12:24:37

Two days earlier, on Maunday Thursday few people ventured out on the water. And no wonder.

The squalls were coming from the mouth of the river and many of the moored boats took a pounding.

This is the dog-leg opposite Coronation Park where you might have thought things would be sheltered.

More on Nelson further down.

29 March 2024 - 11:31:32

Just seven days after the RDYC pontoons returned squatters moved in. Five in this pic but there were six later on.

More seal pix further down the page.

30 March 2024 - 15:17:42

Dartmouth Gig Regatta on Saturday brought an enthusiastic crowd to the town.

This is one race of many - the Men's super vets. The Dartmouth team held a narrow lead as they passed the first buoy in front of us.

30 March 2024 - 15:22:40

By the time they were rowing back into the town after turning up by the castle the competition had fallen into line very much astern.

30 March 2024 - 15:26:02

Congrats all round for the more senior crew.

30 March 2024 - 10:38:22

The gig crews were launching from the new double steps pontoon which created quite an atmosphere around  the place.

Not that the three seals on the next pontoon up seemed to care.

(They are at the top of the pic over to the right on the grey patch.)

30 March 2024 - 10:35:43

Look carefully and you can see all three castle ferries.

Not often seen in the same room together.

29 March 2024 - 09:10:00

Back to the squatters, sorry, seals on the RDYC pontoon.

One even tested the mattress.

29 March 2024 - 08:12:17

There was more than enough room for everyone. Although other opinions appeared to be available.

28 March 2024 - 16:03:30

This was our view of Storm Nelson from the comfort to be found behind double glazed patio doors.

12 April 2024 - 13:45:21

The French like to describe the driver of such things (the thing in the background) as un pilot. Pronounced as un pee...lot.

This is nonsense of course. As everyone in Dartmouth knows, the correct pronunciation is un pee...lock.

18 April 2024 - 11:05:58

BRNC Passing Out parade presented us with a real nice unusual flypast salute....from this Harvard T6.

Built originally in 1954 in Ontario it was derelict by 1989 and sent to Thruxton for renovation.

Nicely rebuilt I would say.

Lots more pix inside the April album, just click the pic.

18 April 2024 - 14:40:58

Later the same afternoon of Passing Out Parade, came a couple of circles from this police helicopter.

Likely it was on a training run, and anyone down at Dartmouth Castle might have seen an extraordinary low flypast.

18 April 2024 - 14:41:53

Here is G-CPAS heading downwards towards the castle.

Obviously there are more pix inside the April album. Once there you can see it crest the flagpole atop Dartmouth Castle.

17 April 2024 - 15:09:03

Other more mundane, but no less important things also happen beneath the Daymark.

Here's 'Jeremy Clarkson' preparing the field.

Regulars will probably spot that a similar pic ran last month, but this goes well with the helicopter shot above.

And......I take lots of pix that you've seen before. Get over it.

11 April 2024 - 17:33:54

Last week this Merlin did a few loops and whirls. Oh, okay, slight exaggeration, so it banked over and circled a bit.

Still good to see and guess what? There are more piccies inside the April album.

13 April 2024 - 16:48:19

Part of a three day railtour extravaganza based in Cornwall, enthusiasts spent an afternoon in Kingswear travelling from, and back to Penzance aboard this Midland Blue Pullman (locos 43047 and 43055 for the number grabbers out there). These are what I used to know as HST 125's.

A lovely sight, shame I only just saw them departing.

16 April 2024 - 10:05:32

One of the largest greenhouses around is opposite us, in Kingswear.

You can now see just why it's called a greenhouse.

11 April 2024 - 18:38:28

The same Royal Navy  Merlin (ZJ135) landed at the college and put on its jimjams for an overnight stay on the parade ground.  

18 April 2024 - 07:32:11

Definitely more seals around this year. The little lads and lasses have yet to be given their own pontoon.

So, in the meantime it's airbeds all round.

12 April 2024 - 13:44:48

A step or two in the wrong direction over on the little Kingswear beach.

15 April 2024 - 11:10:23

All afternoon the Kingswear trots were subjected to winds producing white horses in the harbour. Nowhere else, just around the trots.

16 April 2024 - 16:11:11

Some airbeds might relish a touch of inflation.

16 April 2024 - 08:38:08

Low morning light coming in over the hilltop sometimes highlights important things.

16 April 2024 - 22:15:36

File under: because I wanted to try. A late night run down the river in pitch darkness from a Royal Navy Wildcat.

Incredibly the camera almost took a usable picture. It's identifiable as a helicopter anyway. Not that you could recognise the pilot.

14 April 2024 - 10:06:14

Sunday morning is the normal training day for the RNLI. This Sunday the Dartmouth crews linked up with the big boat from Torbay for some co-ordinated searching. Sadly, atno time did we see Dartmouth and Torbay together, but then we only have our two degree gap to see out to sea.

So you'll have make do with the Torbay craft.