We have traded Mavis 1 in for Mavis 2! The early hours of Sunday morning were spent camping on the doorstep of Southdown Motorhomes in Portsmouth; Monday was spent learning about our new motorhome and transferring 4 years or so’s worth of assorted possessions to the new leviathan (actually only marginally bigger than Mavis, but better designed and bigger inside. Like a Tardis.)
We moved on to Fishery Creek, a campsite on Hayling Island, and settled in a good pitch overlooking the creek. Alyson and Rod, two of the very helpful staff from Southdown motorhomes, dropped in to check all was OK and we sealed the transaction with a glass or two of bubbly.
Breakfast for three at Fishery creek.
Yes…there are now three border terriers on tour. For those who don’t know, Nicky our eldest child, has decamped to the States and entrusted Max to the care of Penny and Colin for the next 8 months or so. So he’s going travelling.
Tuesday was spent packing and organising the new Mavis. Now I’m not much good at that sort of stuff, and would only have got in the way, so I biked to Portsmouth, via the Hayling Island foot ferry and spent the day exploring.
First stop the dockyard to see HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar , which is on permanent display in a dry dock, currently without top masts whilst they are being refurbished.
Next door to Victory is the amazing Mary Rose, pulled up from the Solent mud about 30 years ago. She was Henry 8ths prized battleship, capsized and sunk in 1545 en route to see off some pesky putative invaders. Most of the starboard hull and a treasure trove of Tudor relics were retrieved. There is a large number of longbows, tools, state of the art bronze cannons and all the bowls, jewellery and other artefacts of the day.
The inside of the hull. Of interest to turners, the white stuff is polyethylene glycol, being used to replace the water within the oak, to preserve it. The black tubes are hot air pipes; the timber is now at the drying out stage.
Some of the 130 or so longbows pulled out of the mud.
A surprisingly well preserved Tudor cannon.
HMS Warrior, the mid 19th century sailing/steam warship was closed; outside views only.
This is the spinnaker tower, iconic Portsmouth waterside landmark, worth a visit for aerial views of the historic dockyard, and to walk on the glass floor a few hundred feet up.
HMS Warrior from the air
We are heading off to France now….the blog will continue when decent wifi is located…
Rambling about Europe with the Kray Twins (Colin and Penny).
Travels with Mavis 
Top class new Motorhome you have there, any chance of some pics of the interior? Your blog is shaping up to be full of interesting places and facts…keep up the good work! Love to the Mrs and to you. Xxx
Nia is on the case…..
Glad to see you are back on the road with a new Beestie! Is the dog trailer going to be big enough or have you upgraded that as well? Keep on blogging, you travels are an inspiration to us newbies.
Thanks Colin…are you on the road at the moment?
No… dog cart unchanged. Well a bit worn at the edges now.
Hoping to set off early October for 3 or 4 months, keep blogging we may see you and your extended family on our travels. You will be easy to spot now!!
The motorhome looks like a tour bus! Are you two rock and roll enough? Have a fab trip 🙂
xxx
Yes its the swinging sixties down here. We have Buddy Holly in the boot (Nia tells me).
Hi peter and nia Was just wondering when we could hire the tardis Dave Hannah and martha
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Having a bit of bother with the Daleks at the mo…its all yours when they’re exterminated….Peter
Looking forward to your travels. Take care.