Sunday 17th February
Pompey Puddleducks Valentine Sunday Excursion
Report by Peter Mitchell
Photos by Graham, Sean and Peter
This year we stayed local and went into history mode. We started, as usual, on top of Portsdown Hill, got our route instructions, smiley biscuit and an everlasting rose for the ladies (subject to woodworm). We then had a ten minute sprint to the nearest loos, where a passing Police car stopped and handcuffed Bob Brotherhood because he had a proper ‘scruffy’ 2cv – just like it should be! It turned out that he had an elderly MG himself and wanted to join in the fun for a few minutes.
Another forty minute country drive saw us at the seafront at Stokes Bay where we crossed the now filled-in moat and parked up at a house, now a hotel, dating to 1840 and built for Wellington, hidden in the woods. We then had a tour of the local area by Terry, a local historian, learning how it had changed from 8,000 BC to the present day. We covered flint axes, a long-gone brickworks, the two mile moat, the amazing number of forts that were in the area, the huge dip where the footings for a massive fort were excavated but it was never actually built, a gravestone for a monkey, a carved tree, kingfishers on the diverted river, Mulberry Harbour construction on the beach, the tank-testing tank still buried under the beach, the reason for the windows in the chimneys, Queen Victoria and ‘Bertie’ and loads of other interesting facts hidden in an area which some of us drive through several times a week without knowing. We do now!
We then had a roast meal and pud at the hotel. It rained Saturday and Monday but the Sunday was fine, if a little chilly on the beach. It was a bit of a risk as some people had already driven some way before the start but everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Better start thinking about next year
Peter Mitchell
Photos by Graham, Sean and Peter
Photos by Sean Cullen
