Dec 2016 Portsmouth, Chichester and Brighton
A weekend for a musical festival allowed us to call in on Portsmouth and take a look around the HMS Victory, beautifully preserved at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
A very full & informative tour from Richard who was a great guide, showing us all areas of the ship (approx 1 hour).. Yes its expensive but it really is worth it.
Richards commentary brought the ship to life and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience but watch your head on those beams !
Inspired to dig out and watch Master and Commander its quite amazing how Peter Weir incorporated so many background details into the film which we had explained during this visit - such as the removable walls and the sleeping accommodations for the crew.
It was a long though remarkably painless and traffic free journey all the way down but we didn't arrive until late in the afternoon and the light was fading as we started our tour. It seemed to add to the atmosphere but I would recommend you book in advance - we luckily managed to get on one of the last tours of the day.
When we emerged darkness had fallen and the ship looked beautiful lit by the floodlights. It was time to head on.
The following day found us in Brighton and then Chichester. We spent the afternoon on a cold and blustery Brighton Pier where we tried in vain for a while to remember the name of the Graham Greene novel whilst standing next to a shop that sold nothing but the damn sticky stuff! Brighton Rock.
Then off to Chichester, not too far away but as its Saturday and every town seems to be having a market day or festival it takes an hour to reach.
Finally we are enclosed in the warmth of a blessedly quiet Chichester Cathedral (everyone seems to be at the Christmas Market) with coffee, scones and clotted cream.
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