Warrior

 Mr B got stranded at 'The Hard'. Trains were not playing along, so we went to fetch him.

OK I am a Southampton cat so there might be a good reason I have never visited Pompey before, but I hid my red/white scarf and F took me along to navigate and read signs. Even though it is our nearest 'town' my humans don't go there for shopping or social life and it has been nearly 5 years since F last drove to Portsmouth's historic dock yard (which is right beside the Portsmouth Harbour train station and the Gosport and Isle of Wight ferries - aka 'The Hard transport interchange').

We made it there without incident and I spotted Mr B lurking about just as we stopped to recce.

It was only a quick visit, a couple of 'I was there' photos against the setting sun, and Mr B drove us home again. 

Me and HMS Warrior (and too many lamp posts)

Me and Spinnaker Tower (and yes I am a big cat - the V-E-T said so too).

It was only about 15 minutes each way so if I climbed to the top of our tall tree at home I could possibly see Portsmouth from there. It is on an island (called Portsmouth and Southsea Island). Unlike its neighbour, Hayling Island (with which I AM familiar), Portsmouth is completely built over; absolutely jammers, edge to edge built up, all hemmed in by water.  And lots of the older parts are terraces and terraces of narrow houses on narrow streets that all look identical to me.

We passed a sign pointing to the birthplace of Charles Dickens. F informs me that his birth home is not a narrow terrace house by any means, and it is in an area with nice leafy squares, wide streets, and houses with pretty front gardens.

What Portsmouth is best known for is its long time status as the home of the Royal Navy (since 1194).  The famous (or infamous) Mary Rose sank as she departed from here on her maiden voyage.  I bet that was embarrassing for the ship builders.  Her remains have been raised from the sea bed and form part of a large exhibition in the Historic Dockyard Museum (of which HMS Warrior is also part).

HMS Victory (Admiral Nelson's ship at the Battle of Trafalgar) is also in the Historic Dockyard, but you have to go inside (or across to Gosport) get a view of her.

Spinnaker Tower was built to mark the year 2000 in Portsmouth.  It is basically a viewing tower - i.e. good views from that tiny glassed in bit at the top.  (King Henry VIII would have had an uncompromised view of his prize flagship rolling over and sinking if the tower had been available to him then.)  I am reliably informed you can see the Isle of Wight from up there.

I haven't been to the Isle of Wight either (yet).

Portsmouth is not exactly a city of dreaming spires.  It is a hard working place with some fairly hardworking architecture.  It used to be known for its brutalist Tricorn Centre which, now that I have seen the photos, possibly did not do the image of Portsmouth any favours and the best thing to happen to it was a bad case of concrete cancer and demolition.  It was once in a competition for the ugliest building in UK.  It came third.  First and second must have been unbelievably brutal. (F assures me it was not a pretty building by any stretch of the imagination, and being the best example of something 'brutal' would not have been a good reason to save it.)

So there you have it - after two journeys across Europe and 4 years travel writing about places in Greece, I finally post something about 'home'.