Vole Explosion

Tuesday 5^th March 2024

HAYLING FERRY TO PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

   Today my luck runs out with the weather and I wake up to a showery morning. I wait for a break in the rain before walking back to the ferry and crossing back over to Portsmouth, arriving on the coast again at a bleak-looking Eastney Beach.

   From here I walk along the seafront of Southsea, the southern part of Portsmouth. The further west I go the busier it gets, except on Southsea Pier which at first I think is closed but it turns out that nobody except me is visiting it in today’s gloomy weather.

   It has started raining again and becomes increasingly heavy. If it wasn’t for the weather, this would be a very pleasant section of the walk past Portsmouth’s many historical attractions.

   I’ve spent a few days here before and visited a lot of the sites – the Historical Dockyard, HMS Victory, the Mary Rose Museum, the Spinnaker Tower, etc. – but there’s still plenty here that I’ve never seen before. Obviously most of the attractions are nautical in flavour. To say that Portsmouth has gone with a nautical theme is like saying Vlad the Impaler favoured a skewering-people-on-spikes motif. Almost everything here is related to seafaring. As if to illustrate the point, when I reach the lookout point of Southsea Castle I spot HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of Britain’s two active aircraft carriers, sailing out of port in the drizzle. An impressive chunk of grey military hardware against a grey sea and a grey sky.

   Further out I can see a large three-masted ship, and there are many smaller boats passing by, including the Isle of Wight ferries and the hovercraft.

   By the time I reach Portsmouth’s old town I’m fairly well soaked and I welcome the chance to dry off in the three lovely old pubs here – perfect for a mini pub crawl. When I came here years ago I had fish and chips in one of these pubs, which is somewhat appropriate since it was on the nearby dock that potatoes are claimed to have first arrived in Britain from the Americas. It’s also claimed that tobacco made its first landfall here, and apparently the sight of people smoking pipes in the taverns of Portsmouth caused a sensation. Personally, I don’t smoke… so I’ll just have more chips instead!

   While having a drink I notice that my compact camera has become steamed up internally and I think it might finally have died on me.

   I’m in no hurry to leave the warmth of the pubs and go back outside, but by the time I’m ready to leave the rain stops and the sun comes out. My camera also seems to have fixed itself and is now functioning properly again. This little camera has come back from the dead many times now, from various malfunctions. The light has also improved somewhat for photography.

   From the old town it’s only a short walk to Portsmouth’s smart waterfront area and the Spinnaker Tower, which is now lit up in blue as dusk descends. Along both sides of a short, narrow waterfront stand a variety of eating, drinking and shopping establishments, as well as various historical artifacts and information boards. I’m tempted by the Haribo shop (which is something I’ve never seen before), but I don’t go inside. I would literally be like a kid in a candy store, and I dread reading headlines tomorrow about a middle-aged man on a sugar-fueled rampage around Portsmouth (before succumbing to a sudden and irresistible urge to take a nap in the street).

   I planned to catch a train back, but at the last minute I decide on the cheaper option of a bus – a decision I soon regret as it takes an age to meander into the town of Havant, where I have to wait for another bus to the campsite.

7.0 miles;  11.3km;  9.5 hours

The Oven Campsite, Hayling Island (£20)