We signed out of the Travel Inn and under the guidance of our trusted tom-tom set off to do historic Portsmouth. How people made their way through the maze of old streets without a navigator is a mystery to me. Even with the system I suspect we took at least one wrong turn. But without to much stress we made it there, however the parking system was not very clear. Though the car park was well marked it was one of those places which had areas reserved for various special groups. This is ok by me but would they please be clearer where the general areas are, as with special signs on every other pillar it can be very unclear as to wether you are in some special area or not. After a bit of discussion Gemma and I decided we had located a normal use slot, I guess we were successful as we were not ticketed or towed, and off we went.
We had originally only intended to do the Mary Rose as I had seen the other exhibitions before and Gemma was not really interested in them. However the single option ticket was no longer available it was everything or nothing. Having bought an everything we started out with HMS Warrior. The worlds first iron warship, it showed it in it's mixture of fittings from different ages, some would have looked ok on a Roman ship others normal today. The route through the ship was not marked very well to insure you saw it all and we think we might have missed something but it was fine.
Then across the dock to HMS Victory which was closed for a tea break or something. So we walked around to have and had a look at the M33 in it's dry dock. One of the smaller monitors designed in WW1. Quite a bit smaller than I expected but well preserved. However it was not open for inspection which was an disappointment as I would have considered it well worth a look at.
HMS Victory was now open again and in we went. The beams are low but surprisingly I only hit my head hard once, but Gem enjoyed that once! The same can't be said of a group of German students making their way round as they seemed to be continuously hitting their heads, being German they had probably organized a roster or something. Still you could tell where they were from the noise, Gem and I found it very amusing, getting them back for towels at the pool or something.
The magazine system in the Victory was much better and complex that I had expected. They had put some real thought and work into making it as safe as their technology allow. It would have been hell down there during an engagement. They had a system of stripping down and packing away barrels to reduce the fire risk that surprised me.
After some more climbing around it was out onto the dock again. But no Mary Rose! They are spraying it with something highly poisoned so nobody gets anywhere near without a biohazard suite. We watched a band of some kind blowing brass things and beating drums for a while then had a look at some exhibitions etc.. Gem and I had quite different opinions about the visit to the dockyard, what I thought was good she thought boring and vice-a-versa. Still I got a T-shirt and she got a spoon so both of us were happy.
By now it was after 12 so our food homing systems turned on. Just near the car park was a pub that looked ok so we decided to give it a go. It was a traditional British pub that I miss so much in NZ. An old fashioned layout, good beer, good polish waitress. I am starting to wonder if the joke about all staff in british pubs are Polish is true.
After testing their food and drink for a while we decided to head on. It was now time to go to Arundel. Not a bad trip, quite relaxing, thought the end of the trip was complicated by a crashed truck which was across the exit we wanted and if course everything was backed up. But after a bit of back lane navigation we were in the Premier Inn. Initial impressions of the Premier Inn is that it is smarter than Travel Lodge. Though the room was very worn again. At the start they thought Gem and I were mr and mrs which put Gem's nose out of joint. It's got a smart pub/restraint attached which makes food hunting easy.
After a bit of a break it was into the town centre as they had managed to clear the truck out of the way. It's tight country lanes territory and parking was a bit complicated but not overly so for a Jersey boy. I think Lauren would have been a bit taxed. A nice small town, dominated by a cathedral and a castle. We will do those tomorrow. So we just walked around absorbing the culture. I bought some more stamps at the twee little post office and sent some cards. As it was after 19:00 now we decided to hit the trough again. We chose a nice looking Indian which turned out to be a mistake, the food was ok but the waiter was really off-putting. His attitude spoilt the meal. One thing which puzzled me during the meal was on of the diners at another table. I could not work out if one of them was a she or a he! Really weird, neither voice or appearance was a giveaway.
Sat on the river for a while then back to the inn.
