Our first week in England

The week has gone so fast, with visits to London, Winchester & Portsmouth keeping us busy.

London with Shard in background

Tuesday we headed into London by train (£71 return for the two of us- return for the two of us - NZ$150 , bit of a shock!) and met up with Helen & Ralph who have been over here touring for the last 7 weeks. It was their last day in England before heading off to Ireland then back home to NZ.

H&R Posing in London

We had a lovely lunch in an old English Pub. Bill is finding the English beers underwhelming, but hasn't given up on the search for the perfect beer!

London is looking much cleaner than we remembered, our host Kath said there had been a big clean up with the Millennium preparations. As is with all of England, so much history. Helen took us to the old London wall remains that used to circle the city from Roman times. (Remember Humpty Dumpty on the wall?) We then walked along the Thames river, with many construction sites at work. we saw the London Bridge in the distance, but didn't have enough time to get that far down, perhaps next time. We then caught the express train back ( Great with no stopping till it got to Winchester on it's way to Portsmouth) before peak time. As it was, by 4.30pm it was pretty busy, we got on board just before it left the station, then had to walk through the carriages to find seats. At the 3rd carriage we found one reasonably empty, lovely upholstery, air conditioning, more spacious. It was lovely till I saw the "First" on the head rests and windows! I asked the lovely gentleman beside us if they have a class system on the trains, he said "fraid so", so we asked if we would be moved on, and he said "fraid so". We moved on before being asked, and about ten carriages down found some seats.Phew! Big day in London.

Tuesday was a local bike ride on a couple of Owen's high spec bikes, great with all the bridle and foot paths they have through the country, it was nice and easy to get into Winchester & back without getting lost. Thankfully Bill is doing the navigation, I'd hate to think where we would end up with my mother's sense of direction.

Roman West Gate

Wednesday we went into Winchester to hire a car for the rest of the week so we could get out and about to look for our home, but when we got to the only Operator who is physically in Winchester had all their cars out on hire.

High Street in Winchester

We then booked a car for next week, and with it being such a stunning day we decided to do two guided tours in Winchester itself.

The Great Hall of Winchester

The first one in the morning was the to tour the City itself with all its history, and the one after our late lunch was on


Winchester Cathedral, beautifully maintained & restored cathedral. Again so much history in this area.
We are much more interested in history now rather than the dusty old history lessons at school. Both guides were really interesting to listen to, wonderful to learn so much about the city we are based in.

Winchester Cathedral                              

Inside Cathedral

Thursday was our first wet day, a great one to catch up on our motorhome searching, which was getting a little frustrating with all the vans available but not sure where the places are, and how to get there once we get our rental next week.
Friday was a very interesting day in Portsmouth, Kath took her friend Jo and ourselves down there for the day. Portsmouth is a historic maritime port, one of the main attractions being the "Mary Rose" King Edward the VIII's war ship from the 15th century which has been raised from the sea bed and preserved in a purpose built museum. An amazing presentation of the history of that period.

           

Portsmouth Spinnaker      

"The Victory"

S&B by the "Victory"

And the "Victory" Lord Nelson's battleship, fully restored and great stories by the guides of events at that time.

Jo had to return home for her son, so we continued our tour of Portsmouth which we felt a bit under clothed with a drop in temperature over the day. Hot drinks at a lovely tea shop looking out over the harbour watching all the boats coming & going, a busy port to France and other parts of the world.

Old Portsmouth & opening to sea.

Saturday - Motor Home day! Started off fine & sunny, very positive, but after a few hours of wandering around more expensive motorhomes than we could afford, we came home via a lovely little English Pub "The Hampshire Bowman" where we had amazing baked potatoes full of bacon & brie. The bacon is very tasty here I must say. Bill found a beer a little more palatable, but he is still looking for "the one" though!

Our Hosts Dogs Ella, Hobbs & Ruby