Along the coast

 The shoreline in Southsea, Portsmouth

 is being rebuilt, the long section from Clarence pier has been done, it looks fantastic, here looking back towards the pier. They reused the historic shelters mixed with loads of modern seating areas.

We saw a Navy ship (I'm female so I don't know what type), the Isle of Wright ferry and a private 'boat' (ditto), the hovercraft also passes through here as well.

The wide walkways and all the huge rocks are much nicer.

One of the three towers in the Solent, built to protect Portsmouth harbour.

From the main pier, 

Our lunchtime view.

We sat by the shore to eat, fish and chips, 

perfect location on a bright warm day.

The section of beach by the main pier is closed off, they are very close to finishing the huge upgrade, it is a walk we have done often, so we can't wait until it's open. Having a sunny day will always help, there were many people walking but it did not feel busy, we enjoyed watching young children on scooters and bikes all playing safely. 

Our visitor is in London for a short visit, and then back home to Spain, we are home alone until next month, when hubby's sister and husband come to stay. Having dry weather helped so much, we were able to pop out and visit places, we have many tourist spots, we try and avoid the busy places. 

Lee on the Solent

 Along the south coast is the small resort of Lee on the Solent, in the past 40 years we have lived in this area it has changed very little, it's a beach loved by families, it feels so safe.

As promised fish and chips for tea, all three love fish, we sat on the beach away from the crowds, much easier for George. 

We all love this photo.

We spent 4 hours with our lovely family, it was warm and sunny, just enough breeze to keep us cool. They went rock hunting, Will found a small fossil, Molly found a fairy stone, a stone with a hole in, George threw countless stones back into the water. Coins were spent in the arcade, Will came home with extra money, we found a machine which was a prize every time for Molly and George. So much laughter and happy children, including our daughter, 

Children went home for a bath, we had a lazy evening, another great memory. We are blessed to live here along the south coast, I will never stop loving this coast, sadly we don't visit often enough. A perfect start to our bank holiday weekend.

Just socks and

 My latest socks are knitting up well, I love the choices so far, I will probably keep the foot in shades of brown with blue toes. This simple design again is easy to knit, counting the rows when using different colours is simple. I will have some of the mixed colour yarn left over, but not enough to use for socks, so I will pop it in my mini 10grm bag.

Family lunch out, right next to the beach, it was a warm afternoon, so everyone played on the beach. Perfect Sunday roast dinner,  I had pork my favourite meat, even found space for a dessert. 

We had a lazy weekend, we ordered in pizza for Saturday night and watched Strickly, it is nice to have nothing to do, going out has involved sorting a double pushchair in and out of my car, it's very tricky, my car boot is small, even folded the pushchair only just fits. The little ones had fun playing with their toys and Will had a restful day. Sunday I picked up hubby and he had the day with us, we all went out for Sunday lunch, so a second day of no cooking. The little two were in bed by 6.30pm and Will by just after 7.30pm, so I drove hubby home and then had another lazy evening with daughter, we finished off the bottle of wine from lunch.

Today I'm home as all 3 children are in nursery and school, we have nothing planned, just time together. It will be my last night at daughters house, her hubby comes home tomorrow, so the family will be all together again. It has been very tiring, but it's so lovely to see the children at home, happy smiles each morning, lots of laughter, and snuggles just before bed, after a splashy and wet bath time. Mummy is healing well, daddy is on lifting duties, he is home for the rest of the week.

Close to home

I love Portchester castle, to have this within walking distance of home is fantastic, we have walked here many times with grandchildren or just the 2 of us, it's a place I will always want to visit. 

Inside the grounds are as lovely, with the Keep, Tower and church and plenty of grass areas for families. We renewed our vows in St Mary's, on our 25th wedding anniversary. 

We have a well kept park in our village, this is less than 5 minutes walk from our home, we walk through many times each week, diverting our walk to the shops to pass this way. Our grandsons love the play area, I love the tiny bandstand. 

This area is the closet to our home, we walk here often and not just on sunny days, at different tide times, so it's an ever changing view, popular with families and dog walkers, plenty of space. Walking this stretch of our coast, you can start from the castle and walk up to the football club and wreck, and then on past a golf club and into Fareham, you can also from the wreck walk to Gosport, in all cases you would need your walking shoes. 

We have a football club, which is by the wreck, which is a huge open space next to the waters edge, we drive to this area, it's about 10 minutes from our home. 

There are loads of trees and shrubs and large swaths of wild flower beds, you can walk for hours if you want, at this time of year there are loads of blackberries to pick. With a skateboard park and a basket ball court, and these views it's popular with all ages. 

Lee on the Solent is about 20 minutes drive from us, it's not huge, but walking along the seafront is fantastic, with views over to Isle of Wight, most of our local beaches are shingle. 

Everywhere beach huts. 

Southsea Portsmouth, is about 40 minutes drive away, there is a huge beach, which again is shingle, here looking toward the Pier, beyond you can walk to Old Portsmouth, and the port, there is loads of naval history here. 

Looking towards Eastney, Portsmouth

The sea walls in Gosport, looking toward Portsmouth and the Spinnaker Tower, this is just behind my friends house, again about a 25 minute drive, the hovercraft from Portsmouth to Isle of Wight passes here through out the day. We have taken our coffees sat and had a chat here many times. 

The whole area is tidal, and can be interesting watching the wading birds in the rich muds, small boats stranded waiting for the returning tide. 

This is Emsworth, it's about an hours drive from our home, but there are loads of similar places all within a short drive, we are now in West Sussex rather than Hampshire. 

With all the negative news, and our need to stay at home and local, I have been thinking of how lucky we are to live in a lovely part of our country,  being so close to the sea with the changing scenery. Everywhere sailing clubs, boats of all sizes bobbing on the water or resting on the mud, waiting for the tide to return. We have a posher area with very expensive boats, you can walk along the boardwalk and view others lifestyles, we have not visited Port Solent much this summer, it's not a place to easy self distance if crowded, there are loads of places to eat out, so it has always been a popular spot. I do love to watch water sport, and people enjoying the water. I do also like to see the sea on a windy day, the power of the water does impress me. We do also have some lovely country parks and green spaces, but the water does call me. None of these photo's are new, I have posted them before, but this post does cheer me, our season is changing.

We decided other than a visit to family in Somerset we would not travel this summer, I really do not want to get on a plane, we had plans to do a couple more city breaks, visit friends in Spain, but all have been shelved, so we enjoy our lovaly local spots. 

I have done very little in the past week, it's turned much colder, and we have had the much needed rain, so most of our time is spent inside, we do wrap up warm and walk to the above places, feeling safe with so much outside space. I hope to pack tender plants into the greenhouse and start changing the garden to it's winter setting this weekend, it's a sunny cold day, so perfect for being outside. 

Weekend.

We joined Will for a walk along the beach at Lee on the Solent, we stopped for an ice cream and then went to the newly opened water splash park, Will loves water and had fun running through the water splashed and cannons, it's a brilliant addition to a local sea side. 

 I have been gifted this beautiful rose for our garden, it's huge and healthy, we are now looking for a place to plant it in the garden. 

 Another book finished, I did enjoy the story, I have read Lesley Pearce before, I'm not sure I would read another by her by choice. 

We had a busy weekend, Friday we spent the morning out with Will, mummy and Will came back to ours for lunch and stayed the afternoon.
Saturday was our village fete, it's the 2nd year it has been held, it was very small, but bigger than last year, they had a dog show. It was at our community centre, who hosted the party in the park last month, they are trying to bring back old events and create new ones, so we will always go to anything they hold, it's only 5 minutes walk from our home, so it was an enjoyable time. We sat and read in the afternoon, nice relaxing time.
Yesterday hubby's older brother and his wife came to visit, they drove up from Devon, we had a BBQ and spent most of the day sat in the garden, it was cloudy in the morning, but just after lunch the sun came out. We chatted most of the time, catching up with his family news, children, grandchildren and his recent arrival of a great grand daughter, later we watched TV, we enjoy Sunday evenings, I love Country File, hubby loved Antiques Roadshow, I also watched The Handmaids Tale, which I am often thinking, why would they let her do that, why is she here?, I will watch it to the end of this series.
Killing Eve has finished, with Eve on the ground shot, not sure if they will make another series, it was another strange at times but unmissable programme.
This morning we woke up to rain, not heavy just steady, good for the garden, it should be gone by the afternoon, I am waiting for Will to arrive, we will have to play inside today, unless it dries up quickly.
I have done no crafting, when I sit down, I'm not feeling the desire to do anything, reading is the easy option. I am sure it's still linked to the bug I had, I can keep the house and garden tidy, but that's it. I'm not worried, I'm healthy just very lethargic.

Ilfracombe

Our break was fantastic, just what we both required, we arrived on Thursday, parked the car and walked for three days. Loads of dramatic coastline, lovely sunrises and sun sets, beautiful sunny days, cooler nights. We decided not to leave the small town, and stroll through the many narrow streets.
Our hotel was small a bit dated, but had wonderful staff and owner, who made our stay comfortable, we ate breakfast and evening meals at the hotel, had a snack out when walking. We had fish and chips, cream tea, fudge, ice cream and brought pasties home for tea last night. Devon is a beautiful county, and it was perfect to go back there.
We loved the rocky coastline and the harbour. We got to know Verity, she was a talking point (more next time).
We did not turn the TV on once, and I read a couple of books.
Home now, with Will for the day, back to normal and both of us are feeling so much better.

The Solent

 Closer view of fort and shipping

 Delivery at second fort

Vessels heading for Southampton in the background,
Portsmouth in front and Isle of Wright

 Cross channel ferry going into port

 Local birds

Hubby and I went back to Southsea, this time I took my big camera with the longer lens. I wanted better shots of the two forts (there is a 3rd further along the coast).
The Solent, which is the water between Isle of Wight and the mainland, fascinates me, the water is always busy, all the large vessels have to pass in-front of the Isle of Wight, to get into the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth. Watching the huge vessels as they all sailed past was interesting, two cross channel ferries as well as freight.
We had another lovely walk, not as far as the previous day, but we stayed dry, had a later fish and chip lunch, we must remember to do this more often.