On the road again

With the prospects of finding work immediately looking pretty slim, we have decided to carry on travelling and aim to get something when the new school term starts in September.  Siobhan seems assured to get work then and I’m sure that I’ll find something.  Decision made, the next question was where to next.  As Tony & Ingrid are heading away soon and have said that we would be welcome to house-sit for them in Bristol, we hatched a plan to journey through Devon & Cornwall on our way there.  That also provided an opportunity to get down to Gosport to catch up with Barbara and to see Jane & Phil (the English Jane & Phil – Phil is our inaugural blog follower).

After lunch on Wednesday we said goodbye to Mark & Paula and the girls (after having spent a lovely morning with Emma while Paula and Squiggs McLickey aka Alice were at Tumbletots) and headed south to Gosport.  We had no trouble getting there and our sat-nav did not send us down any weird or wonderful detours.  After spending some time reminiscing with Barbara, we went out exploring.  We went to find 42 The Avenue, where Barbara and her family lived when Siobhan stayed with them as a child.  It was a lovely walk, with part of it along the waterfront admiring the Isle of Wight.  We found a little hotel in Stanley Park and stopped there for a drink on the way back.

Barbara’s friend Tim came over to say hello in the evening, and shared his expertise about the Isle of Wight.  Based on this, we decided to leave visiting the island for another time – it is much bigger than we had appreciated and we didn’t want to be too rushed.

We had a lazy start to Thursday, enjoying a leisurely breakfast with Barbara before going to explore Portsmouth.  We drove to the Gosport waterfront and took the ferry across (as the Gosport ferry slogan says “It’s shorter by water”).  

We walked from the Portsmouth dock into the town proper, about a 20 minute walk, and did a little shopping before walking up to the birthplace of Charles Dickens.  This lovely little Regency house has now been turned into a museum and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it.  We both agree that Siobhan needs to get a few favourite Dickens’ stories onto her Kindle!

On our return to the Portsmouth dock, we headed around to the Spinnaker Tower.  This is a rather beautiful sculptural viewing tower, on the Gunwharf.  The Gunwharf is a very elegant shopping and restaurant complex which is surprisingly well hidden from the road.  We didn’t have any more shopping to do (those who know Siobhan are to stop laughing now please) so we went up the Tower in order to enjoy the view.  The weather had really fined up so the view was superb.  Siobhan enjoyed trying to locate places she knew, although Haslar Naval Hospital was the only easy one.

On the way back to Barbara’s Grant managed to find a small local brewery, and bought some of their wares to sample on our travels.

In the evening, we went to have dinner with Barbara’s daughter Jane and her family.  Jane and Phil have brought their son and daughter out to NZ a couple of times and visited Siobhan’s family there so it was lovely to go to their place and catch up once again.  Thank you Jane and Phil for a lovely evening.

Tasting notes:

At a little hotel in Gosport I had a real ale Caledonian 2.8. Not what I'd normally drink but quite nice. Apparently it is a response to the alcohol tax as it might sneak under the radar at 2.8% ABV.