Having failed to book a holiday this year, as I wasn’t up to thinking about it, and then realising I wouldn’t have the energy anyway for my usual walking holiday, I decided to have a series of days out, instead. There was the trip to the Hawk Conservancy, of course, but that was giving a friend her birthday present, so I am not sure if it counts. Anyway, I decided that I had heard a lot about “The Mary Rose” but had never been to see it so that should be one of my trips.
I then worked out that it was almost half-term and during that week it was likely to be busy and after the holiday schools often take children on educational trips, so it could be full of children. That meant that the week before half-term was likely to be best, so it became my first trip.
It is an easy train journey down to Portsmouth Harbour, so I got the 9.33 train – so I could use my senior railcard and get a day return. Taking a book to read on the train, I had a very easy journey down and it is less than 5 minutes walk from the station to the “Historic Dockyard”. There were bag searches at the entrance and then I decided to get an all inclusive ticket for the dockyard which includes all the museums, a harbour trip and can be used again at any time within a year. By the time I got my ticket and got in it was only a short time until the next harbour trip so I decided to wait the 10 minutes or so and do that first.
The boat was “The Jenny M” and as it was a lovely day we mostly sat outside, but under the shade of the awning. We sailed down the side of the harbour, keeping the regulation distance from the destroyers, which were in port.
We also saw some of the ferries that sail from Portsmouth – for Spain, France and the Isle of Wight.
We then sailed back, closer to the other side of the harbour, looking at the marinas and the hillside beyond, then across the mouth – after we had waited for several ferries – they were bigger than us! Some of the forts beyond the mouth were pointed out. I think they said they were being turned into hotels for holidays?!
We sailed passed the Spinnaker tower and it was explained why it is blue, rather than the red Emirates colour, even though they are the owners. (All to do with football!)
We dropped some people off at Gunwale Key and picked others up there, before going back to the dockyard. The trip was supposed to take 45 minutes, but was actually about an hour. We got off the boat near HMS Warrior, which comes from the late eighteen hundreds – something to visit on another day.
I then thought it was time for lunch, so had that in one of the cafes – but it took a while as there was a queue to get food and another to pay.
After lunch I set out for the building holding “The Mary Rose”, which is at the far end of the dockyard. On the way up one passes what I think are figureheads from ships.
Then to “The Victory”, again something for another trip.
This is undergoing restoration work and the topmasts have been removed as they think that the weight of them is pushing the masts through the hull! There is another figurehead near there – “The Trafalgar” I think.
Then it was on to the Mary Rose building. There is first an introduction to the ship and its history and a short film representing the ship sinking. One then passes on to the museum. What is left of the ship itself has been reconstructed and one can view it from several levels. One enters at main deck level and on the opposite side of the room to the remains of the ship, a replica has been made to show what would have been there. Later on one moves to the lower decks and then to the top.
At the ends are the artefacts found with the ship – the number is amazing although less than half of the actual ship still exists. They are mostly displayed in themes, such as the chief carpenter and what he owned, wore and used. There are loads of explanations and I found some of the belongings quite fascinating – like the shoes of various people and how different they were and different sizes. They had provided stools to take round to sit on and I wished I had taken one as there was so much to read.
About half-way round I got tired and wasn’t taking in what was there although some of the things on the archaeology looked really interesting. I decided I would do better to come back another day to see the rest – especially as I got caught up near a group of noisy school children! I walked through to the end of the “visitor route” taking only a cursory glance and went and had a cup of coffee in the cafe.
It was then time to go back to the station and catch the train home.
So was it a good day out? On the whole, yes, and the good weather helped! It was tiring but I look forward to going back to see the rest of the Mary Rose display and the Victory and maybe HMS Warrior – although I know nothing about the latter.