The old A3 at the Devil's Punch Bowl, Hindhead

This is day 1 of what we hope is a 3 day highlight - a visit to Portmouth to see Runrig and walk on the Isle of Wight.

First stop was at Hindhead to walk around the National Trust site at the Devil's Punch Bowl. Until recently this magnificant spot was blighted by the roaring traffic of the A3 between Portsmouth and London, grinding around the edge of the Bowl and snarling up the whole of Hindhead with queues in both directions almost continiously.

But no more, since the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel the town has lost its stranglehold and the Punch Bowl has become a quiet oasis.

Through the trees here you can see the course of the old road, reclaimed now for nature, planted with trees and part of a walk around the top of the Bowl. A good 6 mile walk marred only slightly by my hat falling from my pocket just about half way around and us having to retrace our steps to find it. We asked all the people we met coming the other way if they'd seem my hat and the last group had indeed and placed it on the side of the track.

Reunited with my hat we drove into Portsmouth, found the hotel and met up with friends Wendy and Chris and after a quick bit to eat went to the Guildhall. What can I say about Runrig and the concert? Words cannot express the enjoyment and feel good factor that the experience created. You only have to listen to the DVD of the Party on the Moor - the 40th Anniversary Concert at the Muir of Ord last year to get an inkling of the talent of this group. Portsmouth was the last night of their UK tour and the band gave it all.

And the evening ended on a high note at the White Swan pub just down the road as we learned that if you showed your tickets for an event at the Guildhall then for each ticket you got a sample slider of 3 beers brewed in their own brewery. Each sample was 1/3 pint so that was the equivalent of a pint and even better, the girls didn't want their beers so we had another set of 3 as well.