Solent Views

In Notes on a Small Island Bill Bryson comments that it must look strange as he dines alone in various local restaurants at typical British seaside towns out of season. I know how he feeld as I'm sat in a pizza restaurant overlooking the Solent as various ships, ferries and hovercrafts go by - there is even a bloke sculling in a rowing boat. It's out of season and I've escaped London to the south coast for a couple of days.

The Spinnaker Tower dominates the Portsmouth skyline. It's impressive, iconic and beautiful. It is also completely pointless. I join a queue, pay my money, join another queue for the lift (there is only one and you can't walk up), go up, look at the view (which is impressive) join another queue and then get in the same lift to go down. I'm there less than half an hour - most of which is in queues for the lift - and have paid £7. Like many UK tourist things it promises more than it delivers - it's a great idea but poorly delivered. It is best viewed from afar.

The rest of the new development at Portsmouth seems to be the work of a group of 14 year olds who had too many Red Bulls - it's hideous and Portsmouth has replaced one dated and worn development for one which will itself look dated in a decade. You sense a missed opportunity.

Less than a mile away and you come to Old Portsmouth. Whilst there is not much there, you can stroll by the harbour entrance and then stumble across the delightful Portsmouth Cathedral. In the middle of a residential square the Cathedral is wonderfully accessible and homely - it shows its roots as an upgraded parish church. A church has been on the site since the 12th century but the the Portsmouth Diocese was only created in 1927, and some parts of the Cathedral weren't finished until 1991. There is little pomp or glamour - there is no cafe and only a small bookshop unlike most other cathedrals. It's one of the nicest cathedrals I've been in, and one you feel you could make your local church if you lived locally - which is as it should be.

A little further on and you come across the Royal Garrison Church - and you thought your local parish church had a roof problem!

Overall don't know what to make of Portsmouth. It has loads of history, a long naval tradition, the beauty of the Solent and the lovely open spaces at Southsea. The weather has been glorious and I've no doubt seen it in its best light, but... I don't know. Like many coastal towns you wish it well, you hope that the new development will work and it will be less reliant on football for its identity. You hope you're wrong - but you just feel that its best days are behind it.