Day 19 – Portsmouth

It was a pretty rough night for both Kevin and I myself as we adjusted to our new bed. Plus I had a panic attack when I woke up to almost pitch black in the middle of the night. I felt claustrophobic and like there was no air. Kevin opened up our vent more which helped but tonight we’ll have some more blinds open so it’s not as dark.
We played on the computer for a bit and I got some blogs uploaded before we headed off around 9.45 to catch the bus into Portsmouth.

Once in Portsmouth we walked the very short distance to the Historic Docklands and exchanged our voucher for tickets (after waiting in the wrong line). Poor Kevin had a REALLY sore back today and was in a lot of pain.  By now it was 10.30am and we were hungry again so went to the tea rooms for morning tea. We had Cream Tea which was just delicious.

Next was the highlight of today – the HMS Victory. Unfortunately there was no guided tour but it was well sign posted and thanks to Kevin reading all the Hornblower book he knew all about how everything worked. There was also a number of guides around if you had questions. It was busy but not too crowded.

We saw the plague showing the location where Lord Nelson was shot during the battle of Traffalga.

After viewing the ship we went into the museum and watched a presentation about the battle which was rather well done and very interesting. Next up we saw the only remaining sail from the battle, which came from the VIctory. Christy was impressed to see the holes in the sail where shot went through.

We then went to the Mary Rose Museum. Unfortunately the Mary Rose is currently unavailable to view but the museum was interesting. And a bit more hands on for the kids. We also talked to one of the men who was part of the search for the Mary Rose which was raised in 1982.

It was now 2pm and time for some more food. We decided on a pub lunch and there was one right across the road, which even had a kids play area.

Kevin and I shared a very yummy nachos.

We then decided to go back into the dockyard and do the cruise (that came with our ticket). So glad we did this because we saw many of the naval ships – including the new one and an aircraft friggat.

There was also a US Nuclear Submarine – which is apparently very rarely seen in the harbour. It was a great cruise and gave a really good idea about the importance of Portsmouth.

We ended the cruise in the Dockland Quay – a lovely area full of shops and resturants. We even found a Christy shop selling towels/linen.

 

We then went in search of a supermarket. We should have gotten a taxi as we ended up walked a LONG way and Amy had a very sore ankle and ended up crying. We went back via the Dockyard – which was just as well as Christy had left her new compass on the boat and was very upset – so we were able to get her a new one.
FInally we got to a Tesco and got enough to keep us going for a few days. We also bought some pillows – as the ones in the motorhome are pretty  pathetic.

We then got a taxi back to the caravan park – much to everyones relief. My own feet were very sore today (wearing my joggers instead of my crocs). I unpacked the groceries. and put dinner (pies and quiches) in the oven. We played on the computer while it cooked. My quiche was delcious and Kevin was very impressed with his supermarket pie.

We moved inside when it got cooler and I spent more time on the computer before going to bed around 9.30pm.