Highlights-Portsmouth Day 2
I visited the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. There is nothing like a shipyard tour to get a former Navy Engineer’s blood up. The HMS Victory, ADM Nelson’s flagship during the battle of Trafalgar, was under repair with large sections of timber removed, and covered by scaffolding. The Deathbeetle is wreaking havoc. Not a “Friday the 13th” beetle, but a wood-boring menace. I did a quick tour of the Mary Rose building: capsized in 1545, found 1971, raised 1982. I did a short harbor tour that went past several Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers (Daring class, not so daring in practice, more like maintenance nightmares) and the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. I had a very interesting conversation with three ladies returning from shopping (them not me) on my way back from the dockyards.