3 June 2016 - Choller Farm, Barnsham, near Arundel, West Sussex

We woke late to a dry calm day, or at least compared with those which had preceded it. By the time we were under way, heading westerly to the city of Chichester it was about 10 am, a very decadent starting time for us! We soon found a park just outside the city walls at the reasonable tariff of £1.50; we decided we are becoming anaesthetized to UK prices because the idea of paying $3 for two hours parking would have appalled us in the past. With the tall spire of the cathedral to guide us toward the centre of the town, we found a free (yes, free!) map in a little box along our route and were immediately in love with Chichester.

Chichester is the only city in West Sussex, its county headquarters serving the very rural downs about. The 2011 census reported a population of 26,795, although the region about had about five times that. The Rough Guide suggests the town is “an attractive, if stuffy, market town” and so it might be but that suited us just well. In fact when I googled “population Chichester” there was an even more insulting description of the city, rather contrary to our impression, although I accept we only spent a couple of hours here.

The town began its life as a Roman settlement; the street layout still echoes that original plan. The two particular attractions of the town as far as the tourist is concerned are the Cathedral and the Market Cross.

Alas we arrived in the middle of the Chichester Cathedral Festival of Flowers, which started yesterday and runs through to tomorrow, titled “The Artist’s Palette”. The Cathedral has been taken over by these flower loving folk, and today busloads of appreciative oldies were pouring in to enjoy the festival, all having paid £14 plus their bus fare and whatever other costs, for the privilege. Had we been seeking a floral experience, we would have been delighted to have coincided our visit with this, but we had not. I simply wanted to see inside the cathedral and had arrived in town with the expectation of doing this, gratis. So instead we wandered around the outside of the structure, wandered into the flower and plant markets set up outside to capitalise on the gardening frenzy, and resigned ourselves to missing out on the interior.

Chichester Cathedral

The slender spire of the cathedral is apparently visible from out at sea, although we did lose it for a while when we were driving around looking for a parking space.  Construction began in the 1070s, but the church was extensively rebuilt following a fire a century later. Apart from the spire and the free standing bell tower, little has been done to the church since about 1300, hence our keen interest to see the interior, although not so keen as to battle the queues of the elderly flower appreciators.

In the middle of the walled town, we found the Gothic Market Cross, a bulky octagonal rotunda built in 1501 to shelter the market traders. Standing inside this small structure, we did wonder how many traders could squeeze under the protecting roof on a rainy or snowy market day; perhaps they liked to snuggle up close in those days?

The Chichister Cathedral Bell Tower

We wandered up through the market stalls along the pedestrianized street, remarking that most of the wares seem to be of a specialist nature, better suited to the “discerning” moneyed customer, rather than the rather normal folk we had observed the populace to be, however I have the fault of judging everyone by my own standards and I am frequently reminded that I am not “normal”.

At the eastern gate, we set off around the wall, for both exercise and as an alternative route back to the car. There we transferred our packed lunch from the eski into the backpack, and walked the relatively short distance down to the Canal Basin.

These days the canal offers cruises, rowing boat hire, canoeing, angling, wildlife observation and walking, the latter activity the most inviting however time restraints forbade us to do too much of that. We did wander a little way down the tow path, which follows the canal for the four miles to the final lock just before the harbour is reached, and found a spot out of the breeze to eat our lunch, and then it was back on the road for the next destination.

Truth be told, I had envisaged the day to be mostly filled with a visit to Chichester and if there was any time left, a drive along the shoreline further to the west. Chris had different ideas, and as it turned out, far better ones than mine. 

After that early lunch we travelled west along the A27 highway to Portsmouth, a distance just short of twenty miles, and soon found the Park & Ride, heading in on the bus to explore this amazing spot, which may easily have been left off our schedule.

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the county of Hampshire, with a population of 20,500 and is the only city in the United Kingdom with a greater population density than London. It is concentrated onto the peninsula of Portsea Island, on the eastern flank of a huge easily defended harbour. 

HMS Victory

It has been a heavily forified spot since Roman times, a port since Norman times, but much more since the Tudor years. Henry V founded the British Navy here in 1415, Henry VII fortifying the sea walls eighty years later and then in 1540 Henry VIII expanded it even further and built the first permanent dry dock in England behind the sea walls. Portsmouth has been England’s chief naval station ever since.

These days, no less today as we personally observed, the harbour is very busy with frigates and ferries bound for or from the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and the Continent, sailing boats and tall ships and every craft of every size.

On arrival at the Waterfront, we made our way to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, home to some of the most famous warships in the world. Here you can buy tickets to board any of these craft, enter the various marine themes mueseums, or like us, gain free entry to wander about and seek an overview rather than a more detailed examination.

We spent some time admiring Britain’s first iron clad warship, HMS Warrior, launched in 1860 and the HMS Victory which set sail from Portsmouth for Trafalgar under the command of Admiral Nelson on 14 September 1805, returning in triumph three months later, but bearing the corpse of her commander. She was already forty years old then; I was truly overwhelmed to stand below the massive bulk of this First Class Man-of-war which had 820 men on board on 21 October 1805, the day of the battle.

Shed 4 was included in our “yard only” entry, and there we found scores of craft undergoing repair by apprentice boatbuilders, here too was a wealth of information about various facets of this craft, and most surprising and delightful for my husband, was the discovery of the rather worn and broken skeleton of the “Lively Lady”, the little yacht that Sir Alec Rose sailed single handed around the world in 1968-69. The optimistic folk in  Shed 4 hope she can be restored and do another circuit with a new batch of intrepid folk.

"Lively Lady" laid out

During World War II, this workshop played a vital role in preparing boats, including landing craft, for D-Day. It was here that the X-craft midget submarine was developed in secret, these were used in an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in Operation Source in Norway, and carried out essential preparatory work for the D-Day landings. 

Exiting from the dockyards, we headed south through the town, down through the wonderful redevelopment of the Gunwharf Quays, a concentraion of over ninety outlet stores and over thirty restaurants, bars and cafes. We continued on down through to the Old Town where we found the Cathedral of St Thomas, mostly hidden beneath construction sheeting. This twelfth century structure  has undergone much rebuilding and is obviously undergoing much more right now. 

More interesting down on the shoreline behind the high protective walls, we found the English Heritage protected Royal Garrison Church. At least half of the structure is without a roof, having been victim of the 1941 German bombing as so much of the city was. The Church was originally part of a hospital founded in 1212 by the Bishop of Winchester. The nave housed the sick while the chancel served as the hospital’s chapel. The building later served as part of the Governor of Portsmouth’s residence before being restored in the 1860s. Today the chancel has been restored beautifully, roofed and furnished, and is manned by Heritage volunteers. It is apparently one of just three English Heritage properties which offers free entry to the general public.

The Camber

We walked back to the bus terminal along the high sea walls, pausing at various vantage points to observe the shipping movement in and out of the seaway, the fishing boats tucked in the Camber, the old sea port, and generally to enjoy this wonderful city.

We were late arriving home, having been caught up in traffic jams on the ring road bypass around Chichester, but no matter, we had had a brilliant day.