Our Big Adventure

Back to England, Hampshire

HMS Victory, The Mary Rose and Portsmouth We leave Scotland heading south again to Southampton. It takes us just under 8 hrs to reach southern shore of England and our first view of the English Channel this trip. We stay in Southampton for the first couple of nights but move to Southsea, near Portsmouth, for a week in an apartment. We are only a few metres from the seafront, and a short ferry ride from the Isle of Wight. There are lots to see here, the Portsmouth Historical Dockyard has the HMS Victory, the Royal Navy’s most famous warship. Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson’s captained this ship, to defeat the combined forces of the French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, to become Britain’s greatest Naval hero. It gave us both an eerie feeling to be walking the same decks that Lord Nelson had so many years ago, and also to see the actual spot where he was fatally injured during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Also The Mary Rose, the only surviving 16th century warship, and a favourite of Henry Vlll, she sank off Portsmouth in 1545. She was only re-discovered in the 1970’s, and raised in the 1980’s, her hull being preserved in the silty bottom of the bay. Many artefacts, cannons and personal effects had also been found, still on board and preserved like the hull, by the muddy bottom. It’s nice to be back close to the water and to have some sun again, we have had so much cold and rainy weather the past 3 weeks in Scotland and the north of England.

posted by Brian and Julie @ 6:15:00 AM