Portland, UK

April 15, 2023

Yesterday we were informed of a port change, Le Havre in France was subject to a port strike, so the decision was made to give this port a miss. Instead we were going to Dover tomorrow. Today’s stop is Portland in the UK. We arrived yesterday afternoon in front of the harbour, but there was no place to dock till tomorrow morning 6 AM.  After our passport check, we were allowed to get off the boat onto the tourbus to take us to Salisbury to visit the cathedral and the city. The 2 hour drive up there was very scenic, driving through farmland with its rolling hills and green pastures. After arriving in Salisbury we walked up to the Cathedral. The inside was very impressive for a building build between 1220 and 1258. after our church visit we went into the old town and checked out the old buildings and had á pint in an old English pub.After getting back to the bus, we took off to our next stop, Stonehenge. After arrival at the large parking lot, we were to board a shuttle to take us to the stones, but the lineup for the shuttle bus was so long ,that we decided to walk the 2.5 km to the stones. We walked most of the way through a cow pasture till we noticed the stones sticking up in the air. There were a lot of people out today to visit the stones, taking advantage of the sunny spring weather and it being a Saturday today. After looking at the stones for 20minutes and taking several pictures, we walked back. This time we took the shuttle back to the visitor center. We just had enough time to get ourselves one of those English steak & onion pasty’s. (They hit the spot.) Shortly thereafter our bus left for the trip back to Portland. Before we got back to the boat, the bus took us to the top of the hill in Portland to enjoy the view. Before we sailed away we were blessed by a performance from a local lady’s choir putting on a performance on the pier. To top it off we got a 3 cannon shot Salud by 3 fellows, what looked like an episode of Monty Python.

Cheers