The South Coast of England

When we arrived at Gatwick airport we were greeted by my 2nd cousin Christine who had kindly organised for us to stay at their home in South Hampton. After a nice hour and a half drive we arrived at our destination ready to do some sight seeing. We headed along the coast and through the 'New Forest', a massive national trust park complete with wild horses and foals, deer and wild cattle. We headed on through many idyllic little english towns to the sea side and a view of the Isle of Wight. We walked along the stormy coastline with waves crashing over the sea wall and in the distance a castle which seemed to sit in the middle of the channel, connected only by a sand spit, which was the main defence against marine attack in past times.

Today(tuesday) we headed over to Portsmouth by train, a seaside town rich in marine history. It was the last place Admiral Lord Nelson walked on land before his defeat of the Spanish Amarda and subsequent death at sea. It now houses the mighty warship 'Victory' which Nelson last commanded. We saw it in the afternoon and with 100 cannons it is a truly impressive sight. This is getting a little ahead of ourselves though. We first visited the 'Spinnaker Tower' a 140 metre high tower shaped as named, like a sail. We headed up this and were greeted with panoramic views of the channel, the isle, the town and the surrounding districts. There was also an interactive geography/history lesson which helped shape the rest of the days sight seeing. After this it was off to Subway for lunch and then into the old town for a walk along the fortified coast line. We headed down to the last place Nelson walked on land and looked out at the three cylinder shaped concrete cannon towers placed 500 metres apart and surrounded by nothing but water. These were built in the 18th centuary to combat the threat of Napolean. The path then took us to a cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows and apparently the home to 6 ghosts. We then headed back past the tower to the docks to see the Mary Rose(the pride of the English fleet which in 1527, shortly before it was to engage in its 1st battle capsized and sunk off the coast without ever firing a shot!), the HMS Warrior which is the largest battle ship of its kind at over 250 yards and has a great name and HMS Victory which was covered earlier in the piece. All in all a very informative and interesting day.

Shaun

Ps. Go the Warriors