From one Mary to another.

On Friday morning we were up at 3 o’ clock to witness the vast QM2 arriving and docking in Southampton.  We got some awesome photos along the way.

Portsmouth – with the Spinnaker Tower dwarfing everything else around it.

Doug in the middle of the huge top deck of QM2 at 4 o’ clock in the morning.  It doubles as a helicopter landing pad.

We just had to have another iconic pic. before we disembarked  this lovely ship.

Down at the front of the ship are eight spare propeller blades, mounted and displayed like a beautiful work of art.

As we sailed up the Solent, QM2 had all her deck and flood lights switched on.  She must look amazing from the shore.

Arriving at Ocean Terminal at precisely 6:30 it didn’t seem possible that we were going to fit into this little space!

As the day dawned we took this shot of the Queen Elizabeth, which followed right behind us into port.

Doug with “Ollie’s Bench”.

A daylight pic. of this giant ship safely docked and towering above everything around her.

The refuelling barge came alongside almost as soon as we’d tied up.

One of the world’s true engineering giants!  This was our last look at her before the short journey back home.

Today, after a 24 hour ‘turn round’ at home we took the train this morning up to Packet Boat marina (where we’d left the car) in the hope that we might be able to spend this next week in London.

From the train you get a good view of  the superbly beautiful town of Arundel with the country’s second largest privately owned castle taking a prominent position next to the River Arun.

On both sides of the track the flood waters from the River Arun had spread as far as we could see.

Without the car we were travelling light (sort of).  After trundling our bits across London and, having a peak in Paddington basin on the way, we found three mooring spaces available!  So we decided to travel in from Packet Boat today, rather than tomorrow, and hope that a space might remain for us – and two spaces were still available when we arrived (!) in the dark at 6:30. Feeling very tired after the last few days,  we intend to spend a night in for a change – nestled safely in the shadow of St Mary’s Hospital.  We wonder!