The Old Custom House, Gunwharf Quays

After another good breakfast at the hotel we stepped out for a walk around old Portsmouth, starting near the Hoverport at Southsea and walking to HMS Victory in the Old Royal Navy Dockyard and back.

A good walk of nearly 5 miles along the seafront (at last) to Old Portsmouth then following the Millennium Trail around the old town past fishing docks, lovely old houses, new buildings, forts that had felt the feet of Nelson, the above mentioned Gunwharf Quay and finally into the Dockyard

This shot is of early spring flowers outside what is now a pub but used to be the Old Custom House, thoughtfully redeveloped from its original function. We really like the waterfront at Portmouth - new and old, exciting, busy, always something happening, all dominated by the Spinnaker Tower which makes quite a statement about the town.

The old Dockyard was good too, plenty of free stuff to see and wonder at. A whole site pass is not cheap at £28 but this allows unlimited access for a year to HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose amongst other things and seems good value if you have the time. We didn't and had to content ourselves with the Navy Museum and the outside of the magnificant ships. Well worth another visit.

We tried to time the journey home to avoid the M25 on a Friday afternoon and for a while all seemed to be going well. As we got on the M25 going east the matrices were showing congestion at the Dartford Tunnel which was OK as we were not going that far. Only to hit a big jam arounf the M23 junction where several miles of traffic were piled up behind a lorry that had caught fire. What I want to know is why this information was not on the matrices?

The jam had obviously been there for a long time yet we were not told about it only about the congestion beyond. Mind you, I'm not sure we could have done anything about it but even so, if they are going to put up these signs to inform motorists of jams ahead they ought to be accurate. Am I the only driver frustrated by the inaccuracies of these signs?

We arrived back just too late to get to the gym so had to be content with a stroll around the golf course to round off and energetic but thoroughly enjoyable 3 days away.