In the right place – by chance!

By chance today, we were in the right place at the right time.  Before catching the ferry from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight for a few days we travelled on to Southampton to see if we could enjoy a little bit of the excitement going on there today.

P & O’s new cruise ship “Britannia” was being named by The Queen and our first sight of her (the ship that is) was from the Red Jet terminal.

The covered terraces for all the great and the good were in place (and spoiling the lines of the ship a bit!).

Walking further round towards the Ocean terminal we got a closer view …….

……. but, at 11:50, we were in just the right place to welcome The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh as they entered the cruise terminal.  After that it was back on the road – leaving behind all the excitement on board “Britannia” as she became officially named. However, we had up-to-the-minute information as to what was happening from our “spies” on board!

A quick dash back to Portsmouth saw us catching the 1 o’ clock ferry ……

….. and, of course, there has to be a few pics of the Ryde to Southsea hovercraft.  This one passed us as we crossed the Solent ……

…. and a couple of pics leaving …….

…. and arriving at Ryde.  Tomorrow James will have his opportunity to have a ride on one as he’s having to get back to the mainland for an awkwardly placed hospital appointment and the quickest way back for the day is THE HOVERCRAFT!