Brighton and Portsmouth Mum, Dad and I picked up our rental car at Heathrow airport and immediately jumped on the M25 to get out of London, heading down south to Brighton. We arrived at this famously popular beachside town around 1pm and immediately headed to the pier. Unfortunately, Brighton in winter on a freezing, wet and windy day isn't a pleasant experience. We wandered the pier, well were nearly blown off the pier and tried to think warm thoughts. The number of arcade games and all the rides that were on the pier surprised me. We had some fish and chips at a café on the pier and then took a walk up to the Royal Pavilion, a very impressive building. Unfortunately, the pavilion wasn't open as it was Boxing Day, but from the outside it looked great. We left Brighton, glad to be back in the warmth of the car and made our was west around the coast. I can see how Brighton is so popular in summer but truthfully, I think it's a little too commercialised, and too touristy. I can just imagine it on a warm summer's day, over run with tourists and the English, and I can think of other places I'd rather go instead. We arrived in Portsmouth later that afternoon and found a place to stay for the night. The next morning, we headed over to the Naval dockyards, the reason we'd come here as Dad really wanted to see it. Leaving Dad to look at the ships in detail, Mum and I wandered around the museum before doing a tour of the Mary Rose. It was amazing looking at the size of the ship and thinking about how many men lived there, for months on end, and the conditions in which they would have lived. After a few hours at the dockyards, we dragged Dad away and continued on our journey.