Day 4 (Portsmouth, Salisbury and Stonehenge)

This morning we had a delicious breakfast with the Bonds.

I tried red currents (bitter like cranberry with lots of tiny seeds)

and had my first taste of Marmite- gag! (a brown salty spread for toast)



We caught the ferry at Gosport to Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard (That's HMS Victory in the background)

HMS Victory, completed in 1765.



Most famously remembered as Admiral Lord Nelson's Flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar and
where he lost his life in 1805.



It was hard to believe that such a gigantic ship could be constructed completely from wood. It took approximately 6000 trees to build.

Part of the bowsprit-(That is the mast that sticks out the front of the ship)

View toward the stern showing some of the gun ports. The Victory carried 100 guns (cannons).

The rigging- (my hand for scale)- about 26 miles of cordage

Nelson's dining room and day room- see the checkered floor? All the furniture is collapsible, even the huge dining table because it would all have to be removed for battle.

But this is how most of the crew lived.
At Trafalgar, The Victory carried 820 men and boys commanded by Capt. Thomas Hardy and 146 Royal Marines

We spent all but the last hour before the dockyard closed on The Victory! (I know- Nerds.) But we did see a few other interesting ships:

HMS Warrior
with an iron hull and a steam engine, was the largest, fastest, most heavily armed and armored warship in the world. Completed in 1861, it made all previous warships obsolete.

HMS Mary Rose, built around 1510, sank in 1545 just outside Portsmouth Dockyard. Over time, the wreck was covered in sand and silt.

The parts of the ship that were buried were raised and are currently being preserved in a specially designed wet environment.

Shops along the quayside in Portsmouth.

Stephen and Val drove us to Salisbury Cathedral

Since it was after 5:30(17.30) we could not go in, but we took some lovely sunset photos outside.

Details of Salisbury Cathedral

And just outside Salisbury, we stopped at Stonehenge. There is was- out in the middle of a grassy plain where it has stood since about 3000 B.C.

Sunset at Stonehenge