When looking for a weekend getaway from Cambridge, deciding on a destination can be difficult. Is this because a traveler is starved for choices? No, in reality, the opposite is true. There are dozens of cities, towns and villages to choose from. One set of dual destinations to add to your list is Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Between the history and the views, Portsmouth will steal your heart and replace it with pure wonder.
Getting There & Getting Around
The train from Cambridge takes roughly three and a half hours. If you do your research, you can usually find a route that includes only one change in a small town, which makes for a more pleasant journey than navigating London’s large train stations. If you stay north of town, you’ll want to disembark at Cosham. In fact, this is what we did because we stayed at the Portsmouth Marriott Hotel. To make this option work, you’ll need to take a 10-minute Uber or taxi ride into the city center. We found Uber to be less expensive than the local taxis. However, the more common choice is to take the train to its terminus point at Portsmouth Harbor. If you do this, you will truly be in the heart of all the best attractions. This makes for a more walkable weekend getaway experience.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we had a wonderful stay at the Portsmouth Marriott Hotel. Our room was simple and nice and Saturday night we had a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant, complete with complimentary cold carrot soup starters and short ribs and a pork chop for mains. Yum!
What Can You See on this Weekend Getaway from Cambridge?
What is it that Portsmouth offers? If you thought that you weren’t really interested in history, I am suggesting you try 48 hours here and then report back to me. If you are visiting southern England at all and have a flexible schedule, you might want to consider fitting two days here into your itinerary. Can you spend more than two days? Absolutely! But, two days will give you the flavor of this place.
The city looks out on a body of water called The Solent and has a centuries-long maritime history. Today, Portsmouth is famous for its historic dockyard and there is a reason for that. Do not miss it. This area is also known for its very close proximity to the Isle of Wight (England’s largest island). In fact, we found the Isle of Wight to be another wonderful adventure that we were very glad we experienced.
The Historic Dockyard
The historic dockyard offers multi-attraction tickets that are worth every penny (or rather, pence, in this case). So, here’s how it works: this location is home to a range of vessels from various eras, including tall sailing ships from 1759 and 1860, a museum with a sunken ship, action stations for families with children, the museum of the Royal Navy, a WWI war ship, and more. Many of the attractions cost 34 GBP for adults. However, for only 44 GBP (adult), a visitor can buy a three-attraction pass, which is good for one year. So, obviously, as frugal travelers who wanted to see as much as possible, we purchased the three-attraction pass.
The first attraction I wanted desperately to see was the HMS Victory. How often do you get to board a tall sailing ship from 1759, after all?
HMS Victory
Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson is an iconic figure in English history. This was his ship. Lord Nelson and his 800 crew members lived and served together on the HMS Victory, right up until he died in battle on her during the Battle of Trafalgar (Napoleonic War) in 1805. The audio guide visitors listen to as they explore every deck of this massive ship, explains how the crew readied the vessel for sailing & battle, and how the Battle of Trafalgar unfolded. Lastly, visitors stand on the exact spot below deck where Nelson took his last breath as the audio guide recounts the tale of Nelson receiving his injury, being carried below deck with this face covered to disguise his identity from the remaining crew (to keep them calm) and requesting a final goodbye from a fellow officer & best friend who he’d served with for decades. It is powerful stuff.
For me, there was one eerie thing that kept niggling at my brain. Imagine that you are serving on the HMS Victory. There was a constant reminder of what you are here for, that this is a war ship. You eat one foot away from a cannon. You sleep next to a cannon. In preparation for each battle, they put out the fires in the stoves because the stoves were near the gun powder. This meant that the men ate a hot lunch before the battle, but all their other food would have been cold and raw. There are breaching ropes wrapped around the backsides of each cannon to keep them from moving too far across the floor after each explosive firing. There was even a crew of carpenters on board whose specific job was to repair the holes blown in the hull & keep them seaworthy until they could get home. See? Constant reminders.
The history buff in your family will fall in love hard with this place, but the non-history lover will likely be converted too. There’s nothing boring about this version of history.
The Mary Rose Experience
The second attraction we selected was our visit to see The Mary Rose. She is a world-renowned archeological find. Built in 1510 by King Henry VIII, she was his most prized flagship for 34 years and carried a crew of 500 men. That’s not the amazing part of the story though. This is: She was sunk in battle and remained underwater for 437 years. Then, in 1971 a crew of research divers found the wreck. It took 11 years to plan & orchestrate her rise from the depths, which miraculously happened on October 11, 1982. Brought up intact, The Mary Rose now sits in a multi-story glass gallery for all to see.
She sank on her starboard side. This left the port side exposed to erosion, sea animals, fungi and bacteria. But, the starboard side was buried in mud and preserved from these dangers. In particular, the waters of The Solent are heavy with silt. This silt built up around the starboard side of the hull and kept out the oxygen that wood-destroying organisms needed. Hence, an intact shipwreck.
In my case, I entered an alcove in the museum that I thought housed a display case, instead I found a wall of glass that looked down on the wreckage of The Mary Rose and I gasped out loud. It’s really that stunning.
The lighting changes on the wreckage every few minutes. Sometimes it is very dark, other times the lights slowly come up and bathe her in blue so you can get a better look and yet, it feels watery. At other times, short videos play inside her hull giving you a sense of the activities that would have taken place there. This all made much more sense to me after having walked through similar areas inside the HMS Victory the day before.
If all of this information about The Mary Rose isn’t awe-inspiring enough, there is also the fact that 19,000 artifacts were brought up with her. Daily use items, weapons, clothing, skeletons and more. These items gave researchers an unprecedented look into all aspects Tudor England. Finally, there is a short 3D movie about how the wreckage was raised from the deep.
Weekend Getaway from Cambridge: What else does Portsmouth offer?
The city of Portsmouth is known for Spinnaker Tower, which with an advanced ticket purchase, you can go up to the top for views of The Solent. In the photo below, check out the person rappelling down the side. That is also something you can pay extra to do. If you are one sail short of a full mast, that is.
We strolled along the promenade (sea wall) and visited a former military barracks that after renovations now has a new life as the Hot Walls artist studios, which are open to the public. There are also a couple of amusement parks, which means this city is a haven for families on holiday. If you want unspoiled coastline views, then Cornwall is for you. But, if you want buzz and activity with your ocean, then Portsmouth is your go-to option.
Believe it or not, even after all this excitement, our weekend in Portsmouth wasn’t over yet. Stay tuned for my article on our day-trip across The Solent to the Isle of Wight, England’s largest island.
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