Tag Archives: hampshire

Hovercraft Museum

Pete and I had another detour after visiting Portsmouth. Just along the coast is Lee-On-Solent which used to be a Naval airfield and now is used for a variety of other things. One is a museum of hovercraft. They have quite a collection which I would like to see one day and Pete has taken a look at. They include two Super 4 hovercraft that used to ply their trade across the English Channel taking people and their cars on their way. We used this en route to France a long time ago. Now they are retired and part of the museum collection.

They are not alone with a number of other hovercraft stored alongside them, some of which look like they might be ones I have used on my travels as well. A quick chat to the tower, a healthy eye out for the glider operations and we were clear to do a quick orbit and get some shots. Very nice.

Portsmouth Harbour (It’s a British Harbor so the spelling is right)

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Pete and I continued our flying excursion with a trip to Portsmouth. We wanted to take a look at the forts out in the Solent since one of them would be part of our fun the following day. However, we were also interested in seeing the dockyards at Portsmouth. For those that don’t know Portsmouth, it is the home of the Royal Navy. The Navy has been based there for centuries and it is still home to a substantial portion of the fleet – even if that is a lot smaller than it used to be. There are also moorings for out of commission warships which is what we were actually interested in seeing.

We weren’t sure how open the airspace was to us. The charts did not show any issue but we checked in with the radar service to tell them what we had in mind and they said it was no problem so we headed across. Spinnaker Tower is a large structure that has been built as part of the redevelopment of the dock area. We flew past it and checked out the moored old warships. Then we did a loop around to see the docks themselves. This includes HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship from the Battle of Trafalgar. She looks great from above. Next to her is the building housing the recovered wreck of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s flagship. These are both worth visiting if you ever find yourself there.

Beaulieu

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Continuing our UK trip, we were still in the New Forest and I wanted to visit Beaulieu. It is many years since I have been to Beaulieu. My grandparents took me there once and we went with the school on one occasion too. However, I wasn’t interested in visiting the motor museum on this occasion. Certainly, if I had a lot more time, I would have loved to take a look around but we didn’t have that much time. Instead, I wanted to see the village which, judging by some pictures I had seen online, looked like it was very picturesque.

First, though, I had to stay awake. As we drove there, I was feeling rather drowsy. Not a good state to be but hardly surprising given how long I had been awake. When we got the village, I put the seat back and had a nap for a few minutes. This was a big help. Nancy was tired but not able to nap so she checked out a tea shop while I closed my eyes.

We then took a walk around the village. It is by a river and is very pretty. Lots of small houses and shops combined with a big green area all alongside the estate of the Earl which now houses the motor museum. What I hadn’t realized is how much wildlife wanders around. Yes there were ducks and swans. I didn’t know that cows, horses and donkeys were loose in the area. The donkeys seem to like the shops and apparently walk in if they feel like it. The horses and cows were grazing on the more grassy areas but if they needed to get somewhere, they would walk up the street and trucks coming the other way would just have to wait. Could I come up with something more English for our first day back?