Portsmouth was one of our main destinations which we reached on 25 July after our dose of history at Battle as in part 2. The historic dockyard in Portsmouth not only has the Victory but we also saw the restoration of Henry VIII’s Mary Rose as well as HMS Warrior – the battleship that represented the transition between sail and steam, it had sails and steam engines. It was the first ship to carry breech loading guns, a huge technological leap forward; it never fired a shot in anger.
 |
| The first trainable breech loader on HMS Warrior. |
Gail fulfilled an ambition to see where her Uncle Sam worked, ate and slept as the first captain of Victory and also just before Trafalgar.
If you go to Portsmouth it is a good idea to do the cruise around the harbour first– which is a massive naval base as well as a popular harbour for yachts of all sizes - before visiting the ships and museums.
 |
| Gun deck on HMS Victory. |
This ship is still commissioned in the Royal Navy and has it own Captain. It is manned by volunteers who show you around.
 |
| Aboard HMS Victory with the Ark Royal in the background. Note the raincoat on again! |
After Portsmouth it was off around Southampton to Bucklers Hard on the edge of the New Forest National Park. This was where there was a shipbuilding industry utilising oak in the nearby forest. One can still the remains of the slipways there where several ships which fought at Trafalgar were built.
Later that day our next stop was Shaldon in Devon. The chance was taken to visit some of the places nearby where the Cross family lived before my grandfather and later my great-grandfather emigrated to NZ and settled in South Canterbury.
Across the Teign river mouth from Shaldon.
This was one of few photos I managed to take where the light was really great. Heavy overcast skies but the sun came out when it was low in the west. On to Cornwall to stop in yet another nice old country pub just outside St Austelle to be our base for a few days whilst we “did” the Eden Project, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Mevagissey, Lands End, tin mines etc
Cornwall kept us pretty busy and we could have spent more time there, but heading north there were plenty of other places to see like Padstow – well worth a visit if you are passing by, and Tintagel, site of the legendary castle of King Arthur and the famous old post office. Clovelly and Lynmouth are musts on the way north along the Devon and Somerset coasts.
Lands End
I refused to pay £25 just to have a photo taken with Pleasant Point – which probably wasn’t pointing the right direction anyway – on the other side of the fence.
Clovelly The town hasn't changed at all since we were first there in 1974.
 |
| The old Post Office, Tintagel, Cornwall |
600-year-old traditional medieval Cornish Longhouse
The Cotswolds town of Moreton-in-Marsh was our base for 4 days to take in the delights of Oxford, Blenheim Palace (birth place of Winstone Churchill and where he proposed to Clementine), Stratford upon Avon, more gardens and some small somewhat unknown little villages like Lacock and Castle Coombe. Both of these latter 2 villages are almost like they were 4-500 years ago. Bourton-on-the-water and Lower Slaughter are very much tourist towns but well worth the visit.
Castle Coombe
Take away the cars and replace the tar seal with cobbles and you have your genuine 15th Century village.
Lower Slaughter
After a good look around the Cotswolds it was time to hit the M5 in the rain and head for the Lakes District. On the way north we just happened to have enough time to make a diversion to Liverpool – John, George, Paul and Ringo. The Beatles Story down at the Albert Docks has been extremely well done to gather lots of historical items, guitars, drums, John Lennon’s white piano etc. - we even saw a yellow submarine! A must see for a devoted Beatles fan; 7th heaven.
Not a good photo but been there!!!!!
Grasmere is where we caught up the origin of the expression “burning the candle at both ends” in Dove cottage where William Wordsworth wrote most of his inspirational poetry. Hawkhead and the nearby area is Beatrix Potter country. It was great to see some of her original drawings of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, Mrs Tiggywinkel etc.
We took a late evening boat trip on Windermere and wondered why there were people swimming in the cold lake. Next day at the top of the lake we saw the back markers from the English Long Distance Endurance Swimming Club completing their swim of 21 miles from the top end of the lake to the bottom and back again overnight!!!!!!
We set off, in the rain again for the last leg of the trip to Scotland with just over a week left. You will have wait for the final episode of our adventures in the land where “the water of life is born”.
No comments:
Post a Comment