Heather was enthralled by the falconry display. To watch a predatory Eagle Owl, with talons as long as my fingers under the control of a slip of a woman was enchanting.
Heather was also very interested in the Archery display, talking about taking classes when we return home.
I was interested to compare rates of fire for the difference weapons. 18 shots a minute for a bow to 12 for a crossbow and 1 for a musket. The cannons fired 2 with a crew of three.
The most interesting aspect for me was the joust, something I had never seen before. The rules are different than Hollywood has led us to believe and there were no unhorsings.
Our knight, Sir Edward Stacey,
won the joust while another won the grand melee.
To see in action things I have studied and in such a setting was almost magical. The castle itself was a solid structure that from a distance looked like the classic ideal of what a castle should be.
It lost little of its appeal close up.
From Portchester castle we drove into Portsmouth ferry terminals where we had a long conversation with the Spanish lady at the Bilbao counter who didn’t understand English even though she spoke it and she quoted us ferry prices five times higher than we had expected causing us both a lot of depression that lifted slightly when we read their brochure and saw something like the prices we had anticipated, but we still have to spend time sorting things out.
On the way back we passed Whale Island, where you could still see the ancient submarines askew in the water as they awaited their ultimate fate.
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