Sunday 26 July 2015

Sailing from Portsmouth

I've been on holiday to France and it's taken me longer than usual to get back into the swing of things.  I can't even blame the holiday washing as we wore very few clothes as the weather was extremely kind to us and we wore mainly swimwear for 2 weeks! 

We started our journey fro Portsmouth again - on a very hot day.  

 I had noticed that the tickets we bought for the Historic Dockyard were still valid, so as we had all day to explore before we caught our ferry, we decided to look around some of the exhibits that we hadn't seen last year.
 This was the first time I had ever been on a submarine.  It was fascinating, but confirmed my suspicions that I never want to go to sea in one!!  It was extremely claustrophobic and I could not imagine 75+ Matelot's on board with all the supplies that they needed..
 The guide pointed out that they would have been able to smoke abord too - I cannot imagine how bad the air quality would have been.  You didn't get your own bed either as there is not enough room.  The beds were used on a shift system!


 All the guides had been submariners and were very informative.
 After our visit to the museum, we decided to wander around Spice Island, the older part of Portsmouth.
 There is so much to see.
 I love the mix of buildings across here.


 I bet if walls could talk they would have a tale or two to tell.

 We sailed just after 8pm.  After a lovely evening sailing past the Isle of Wight with a drink on the deck, we retired to our cabin for a sleep....
 ... and arrived bright and early in St Malo in time for breakfast.

It was lovely weather across in France too for the start of our French vacance.

8 comments:

Young at Heart said...

Fabulous......was in France too a couple of weeks ago and was tres, tres hot....... wonderfull!!x

Lisa said...

You certainly made the most of your day in Portsmouth, but I wouldn't expect anything less!
Looking forward to the swimwear section!!!
Lisa x

Mac n' Janet said...

Looks like you had excellent weather, Portsmouth looks like a great city to explore.

WinnibriggsHouse said...

Lucky you. I love France but have not been for a few years! Love the piccies of Portsmouth, we went in the submarine when my sister and I were in Portsmouth researching our family tree. I too cannot imagine being away for 3 months at a time in one of those!

Rosie said...

Love the Historic Dockyard especially the older ships but I have to be careful around the newer 'grey' ones that are in dry dock as I get very anxious around them. I seem to have a phobia where the underside of ships/boats are out of the water or undercover like in boathouses. I thought I was very odd and alone with this phobia until I saw an old 'Would I Lie to You' recently and the little fellow with the glasses who does the choirs thing on TV - I've instantly forgotten his name - has the same phobia. Love your photos of the buildings at the dockyard:)

Curtise said...

Portsmouth looks great, and I do remember being impressed with St Malo (though it's many years since I was there). Fab photos, Diane. xxx

Unknown said...

Oh! Good start to your France vacance! I can't wait to see what you get up to next! A bientot!!

Lyn said...

You started your holiday early! Xxx