Portsmouth

With our time over at Kingswood we had a few days spare so drove down to Portsmouth.
We arrived late afternoon, found some accommodation then headed into the town on foot to see the sights (about 3 miles).
We hadn't gone far when the heavens opened and we were pelted with hail and rain.Thank goodness we had our emergency ponchos with us.
The town it's self seemed a little down at heal.We had a look around then took the bus back to our hotel.
The next day armed with local information we took the bus to the Historic Dockyard Precinct. It was amazing! We spent the entire day there and barely scratched the surface.Just so much to see and do.
We had an hour guided tour over the Victory 255 years old .Our guide was a wealth of knowledge.We learnt all about the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and Lord Nelson.
We learnt the meaning behind lots of sayings we use.Including a square meal and on the fiddle!
We then moved on to the Mary Rose built by King Henry 8th in 1512. This boat was raised from the Harbour in 1982 and is still in the process of being dried out.
From here it was onto a ferry to tour the harbour and view some ithe Royal Navy fleet including the Aircraft carrier Invincible.
We walked off the ferry onto the Warrior.The first steam sail ship.Built in 1860.
We ended our day in Action Stations and took a simulator flight on a Jump Harrier Jet low level.Taking off and landing on Aircraft carrier.
On further local advice we took ourselves off to the Lady Hamilton Pub for some well earned refreshments and ended up talking to a retired commander of two battleships.