This week's Tuesday trip

was postponed until Wednesday, as Wensleydale had a meeting on Tuesday and our friends and co-grandparents R & S had suggested a trip to the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth today.

The Spinnaker Tower is one of those places which we had said we ought to visit but probably would never have got round to. When Wensleydale worked in Portsmouth he could see it from his office window and watch its progress as it was being built.

We enjoyed the trip – it was a lovely day and the '350 degree' views are as spectacular as we expected. Why did they leave out the remaining 10 degrees? I have my suspicions and if you know Portsmouth you may be able to guess which bits you can't see...

The brave ones amongst us walked over the ‘largest glass floor in Europe’ – and Wensleydale and I didn’t … This is the view down through the glass floor. Of course the few small children who were there walked over it quite happily!

The lift whisks you up to the first floor very quickly so you get no real idea of how high up you are – till you notice the seagulls flying below you and the ferries which, to coin a cliché, look like toys. These are the Fastcats to the Isle of Wight from 100m up:

And this is one at sea level.

The tower is probably of most interest to locals who know what they are looking at – but you do get views of HMS Victory, which is rather more famous than Wensleydale’s former place of employment - the curved building in the centre.