Having been fascinated by the life story and engineering achievements of I K Brunel, this "Visitor Experience" day to both Brunel's iconic 1859 "Royal Albert Bridge" and to the 1961 "River Tamar Bridge" was an opportunity not to be missed., Prince Albert "opened" the Rail Bridge in April 1859, although unfortunately Brunel was too unwell to make it. The Queen Mother "opened" the Road Bridge in April 1962, and Princess Anne re-opened the widened and strengthened Bridge exactly forty years later in April 2002.

The Brunel Bridge is unique, the only one of it's kind in the world. The distance across the river, and the 1859 impossibility of chaining a single span to the opposing shores lead Brunel to "inventing" the idea of preventing the towers from leaning inwards, by placing the iron tubes between the towers. Never been done before, never been done since.