Tale behind city wall of poetry

POEMS DESIGNED TO LIFT UP SECTION OF COASTAL PATH

- CARL EVE

UNLESS you've ever walked along Billacombe Road from the Morrison's store to Laira Bridge, then you've probably never known there is a delightful series of poems for you to enjoy.

The gun-metal narrow slabs of metal with the lettering of a series of poems punched out, have been in place for a number of years along an ordinary stretch of which is surprisingly part of the South West Coastal Path not necessarily one of it's prettier stretches, in fairness.

Billacombe Road links the city centre with Plymstock and onwards to Sherford, and the short dual carriageway section from Pomphlett Road to Laira Bridge hosts a pub, a fuel station, a marine store and boating yard - with much of it blocked off by a tall stone-flecked wall which also hides a creek where boats can launch into the River Plym.

Due to the rather uninspiring stretch of road walkers were expected to hike along, the South West Coast Path Association decided to help them enjoy their stroll with something to read and ponder and even be entertained by as they tried to cover the 630-mile long path.

Eric Wallis MBE, who was secretary of the South West Coast Path Association for a quarter century, was a key part of the programme to illuminate the Plymouth path with a mixture of art, history and suitably maritime artefacts.