June 2005

60 since the end of WWII and 200 years since the Battle of Trafalgar - seemed an ideal time to hold a Fleet Review. Something like 150 ships from 26 nations assembled in The Solent, just outside Portsmouth harbour and the Queen and various members of the royal family reviewed them from a passing ship.   We drive past this piece of coast line every day -  so we  had to  go have a look.

The ship had been building up all week, and  we had driven down to look at them occasionally, but these pictures were actually taken on the day the Queen was carrying out the review. 

It was a strange day -  really hot one moment, raining the next -  but  very cloudy while I was down on the beach.  There were so many ships and boats, it looked like there was just one huge traffic jam in  the Solent,

The pictures do not show any of the ships clearly -  but they do give an idea of  what it looked like down there.  All the pictures were taken from one small area on the beach - I really could see all those ships at once  (and a lot more as well)