Spring partly sprung on Tuesday but then vanished again but, yesterday, Saturday 6th April, it reappeared with blue skies and bright sunshine although the wind was still cold. Fred. Olsen's Boudicca was in Portsmouth and with a couple of Brittany Ferries' ships also on the schedule, I decided to take a rare trip to Portsmouth for some photography.
I don't tend to go to Portsmouth much these days as I am not particularly interested in naval ships and the rest of the traffic is mostly the regular ferries of Wightlink, Brittany Ferries, Condor Ferries and LD Lines (the latter's ship/s tend to arrive and depart in the evening) and also, when I am travelling elsewhere I tend to go via Southampton, especially when driving, but, as it would make a change, I decided to go over for the afternoon.
I had thought about using the vehicle ferry from Fishbourne but parking the car would be an issue, considering spaces at the terminal are limited and there is nowhere else to park in the village so decided on the Wight Ryder service from Ryde Pier. I have not used that service since 2010 when I was travelling up to Heathrow on my way to the States to see friends and go to an amateur astronomy convention in Texas.
Wightlink were hosting a Party-on-the-Pier and, as I walked up the pier, dozy families walking four or five abreast, rather than in twos or single file, walking down meant I had to walk round them because there was
no way they could
possibly make room. Yeah, thanks, I'll just step into the path of that oncoming taxi, shall I? Dozy adults, dozy kids. It's probably the shock of the bright sunlight...no it isn't, people are always dim like that and it's no wonder some kids grow up with no respect for anyone or anything (Christ, now I sound like my late Nan :p )
At the terminal, an octet playing classical music with a variety of wind instruments (oboes, flutes, that kind of thing) in the boarding/café area and a covers band murdering old pop numbers were trying to outdo each other. It was deafening and there was no escape, made all the worse by the fact I loathe covers bands and don't like classical music.
Rantette over...
I ran into my friends Andrew and Donna Cooke and we went up to the top, outer, deck of Wight Ryder II - the great thing about the new Wight Ryders is that they have an outside deck which is a decent platform for photography and, on a lovely sunny day like yesterday, meant a pleasant trip across an unusually quiet Solent.
Once I got to the Round Tower, I checked the football results and found Southampton had beaten Reading 2-0. Get in! Good result and another step towards safety...I had to keep shouts of joy and rhetoric to a minimum, bearing in mind I was in 'enemy territory' and the Skates were at home (there were a few people in Pompey blue wandering around; they drew 0-0).
The tanker Maersk Rapier was alongside the jetty at Gosport, she'd already been there for more than a week.
I went straight to the Round Tower where I'd later meet up with my friend Dave, another ship enthusiast, and waited for Mont St. Michel to emerge.
While I was waiting for Mont St. Michel, the reefer Star Leader arrived.
Her stern is an interesting shape and I wonder if that is some fuel-saving design?
Once Mont St. Michel had gone, it was time to head to the Still and West pub until 5pm when Boudicca was due to sail. As it as she was 20 minutes late, apparently because some unfortunate person needed to be taken off the ship and away by ambulance. It's always a shame when someone is about to start a cruise or other holiday but end up needing medical treatment instead. Hopefully it's nothing serious.
It was at this point that my new 32Gb SD card decided it didn't want to play any more, meaning I had to do a quick switch. I was not best pleased but have found out that the card I've got isn't quite fast enough for the 6D, itself not the fastest camera on the planet, therefore it created a buffering problem.
Brittany Ferries' Bretagne was on her way in, but quite a way distant and, as time was getting tight for my 1815 ferry back to Ryde I did consider giving her a miss and catching up with her at another date. As it was, I decided I had enough time and waited.
I left the Round Tower a little after 6pm, which didn't give me a lot of time to get to the harbour for the 6.15pm back to Ryde but, luckily Dave gave me a lift and I made it with minutes to spare (how many times have I legged it along the concourse of Portsmouth Harbour Station over the years??!). I went straight up on deck and found Crown Garnet, another reefer, coming in. I thought I would miss her but this was an example of perfect timing.
A small Norwegian car ferry, Sea Horse II, was to be found nestling under the Spinnaker Tower.
And here are the best of the rest from the day...
Cosco Shengshi on her way down the Solent from Southampton. I wouldn't normally bother with a long distance shot like this but I like the sky. I did nothing to the saturation, the sky was this nice golden colour.
And the usual Wightlinks going about their lawful occasions
Plus the Gosport ferries
One of the pilot boats
Portsmouth certainly has done a great job of tarting up the waterfront and I wish Southampton would to the same with Mayflower Park and Town Quay. It's a great place to visit, even if the ferry scene isn't what it was in days gone by. Even the Round Tower has had money spent on it, with new seating and some new railings put in.
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I wasn't planning on travelling much this year, due mainly to costs, but it appears as if things might change a little bit. I already have the four-night trip on Aurora on 24th April (cruise no R302 to Zeebrugge and Amsterdam) lined up but I am also going to be doing a day trip to Cherbourg on Brittany Ferries' Barfleur, on 20th April. Barfleur is a ship I have seen on a number of occasions but not yet travelled on.
She spent last summer along the coast at Dover, operating for DFDS as their Deal Seaways before returning to Brittany Ferries. There are photos of
her in that guise over on
Dover Ferry Photos.
Mooted with friends are also trips to Oostende from Ramsgate on TEF's Ostend Spirit, a ship I've sailed on just once as Pride of Calais, and possibly a trip to Spain to see, and hopefully sail on, Oleander, one of my faves (the Townsend Thoresen Spirit class were the best ferries of all-time, along with Pride of Dover and Pride of Calais, in my completely
unbiased opinion) and a ship that I never actually managed to sail on - surprisingly enough, although my schedule never allowed me to, but I've
seen and photographed her a number of times. She's an old ship, guzzles fuel like it's going out of fashion and who knows how much longer she'll be around, although I have heard she is well looked after, so I feel I ought to see her one last time and sail on her before the inevitable one day happens.
The TEF trip from Ramsgate is likely, the one to visit Oleander a bit more in the 50/50 category.
It's looking as if 2013, crap in so many other ways (death of friends, death of pet, other problems), is shaping up to be a great year of photography.
