Ferries and Royal treatment

The return ferry timing from Bilbao to Portsmouth was a bit more civilised (13:00 Dep and 17:00 arrival with only one night at sea) which meant more opportunity to take some photos of each port. Bilbao has a remarkable river crossing which makes the journey every 10 minutes and hence appears to be pretty popular. Its design enables pedestrians to be at river level while tall ships can pass under.
As mentioned in the blog of the first crossing, whale and dolphin spotting was a major activity on the ferry. This time I saw several whales (OK spouts) with 2 blowing at the same time. Portsmouth is festooned with ships and with low tide and a mooring right at the back of the harbour we were close to the quay and had some great views. The Warrior was one of 3 tall ships at the port and was commissioned in 1860 by Queen Victoria. She was iron clad and steam driven which was a first in her day.

While just upstream is HMS Ark Royal with her upturned deck to assist take offs (initially developed to assist Harrier Jets). She was commissioned in 1985 and is the fifth vessel to carry the name.

HMS Victory was also visible in the background in a dry dock. She was commissioned by the Admiralty in 1778 (by King George III era), served until 1812 and is the oldest commissioned ship in the world. These would make a good day visit as the Mary Rose commissioned in 1545 by Henry VIII is also here.

All these warships need protection and the port has several large defences. The initial round fort which is tied to the shore was built in 1420 while there are several more modern forts (this one is called Horse Sands) which protect the channel into the port.

We decided to break our drive back to Solihull and overnighted at Winchester where Sue and Martin spent the night with us and helped finish the last of our alcohol supplies. It is nice to have such thoughtful friends!

On our return Jo surprised us with tickets to travel to London and tour Buckingham Palace followed by afternoon tea at Claridges. The day was cold but the palace was awesome. Each state room has its own theme and colour scheme but gold features in each if the decors. The palace is without doubt the best presented and maintained of any heritage building we have visited. It is open over the summer months and is used by the Queen as her home, office and of course many state functions throughout the year.

The trip was a present to celebrate both Helen and my 60th birthdays. (Helen wanted it emphasised that hers is ahead of time!)

Despite the cold we opted to walk to Claridges and work up an appetite. The route took us through Hyde Park corner with its familiar Wellington Arch and statue of Wellington.

What was not familiar were two new memorials. The first recognised the part that Australia has played in supporting Britain through numerous wars. It is an imaginative design made from West Australian granite and opened in 2002. It has 24,000 place names of where Australians were enlisted. Several of the sections have a surface water fall over them.

At the other end of the square is a memorial for New Zealand. Each of the columns have some background to NZ. The tidbit that caught our eye was that the 1905 NZ rugby team departed as the Colonials and after a successful tour returned as the All Blacks.

Also enroute was a living wall on a hotel on Piccadilly. It was designed by Patrick Blanc who has similar flower arrangements in cities world wide and appears to use similar techniques as that used for the Bilbao puppy.

Tea at Claridges was terrific (apart from eating too much). The choice of teas ran to 3 menu pages so that was a bit of a challenge! This wonderful day was a terrific way of ending what has been a great holiday. The SIPS venture has taken some 2 months but like all good trips does not appear to have been anything like that long. Now about next year…..