Updated: 03/12/2020 to fix broken image links following our website upgrade
Foreword
It’s been a very long time since I have posted anything to the website, well over a year in fact! Not to sure how that has happened but life has been rather hectic of late. In my last post I touched on a number of personal issues which had been causing me some serious problems, I am very happy to report that chapter of my life is now closed and I have moved on in more ways than one.
I have very recently (23rd July) celebrated my 40th Birthday. Now I know everyone says life begins at 40 and that statement is so true in relation to me and my future. I have recently found out that I am going to be a Dad. My partner and I are expecting our first baby in January 2020. To say we were both shocked would be somewhat of an understatement but we are both very happy and we are looking forward to meeting the newest member of our family next year.
Owing to the pregnancy we decided to have our Summer break in the UK this year instead of heading to our planned destination in Greece. My partner is very well travelled, having been a holiday rep for Thomas Cook for a number of years and this would actually be her first UK based holiday in many years. In the last few years she has visited the Far East and Columbia and has used the services of Airbnb on numerous occasions. I have always used traditional hotels and travel agents for booking my holidays so this was a new departure for me.
With this in mind my partner booked us accomodation via Airbnb in Sydenham-Damerel, Devon for four nights followed by two nights on the waterfront in Portsmouth. For obvious reasons I am not going to post all my photographs from Sydenham-Damerel, it being 20 miles away from the sea with a distinct lack of shipping might make for a less than interesting post!
Please find below a selection of photographs taken from our accommodation in Portsmouth and the surrounding areas.
Best Wishes
Ray
Portsmouth
For our two night stay in Portsmouth we were situated on the waterfront right next to the harbour entrance. Our hosts Mark and Jenny live at this address and have two rooms which they rent out on a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) basis on Airbnb. Needless to say that due its location this property is ideal for shipping photography, with access to two balconies plus a large rooftop veranda, which incorporates a large hot tub and a fire pit for those cooler evenings, it most definitely is a room with a view.
Owing to its location the property is ideally situated for visiting the numerous pubs, restaurants, shops and historical attractions which are within a 10 minute walk. For further information on the property I have included a link at the bottom of this page.
I have no intention for this post to be a commercial endorsement of any kind but I can highly recommend a stay here with Mark and Jenny, they are fantastic hosts and I can highly recommend one of Marks ‘Fine Dining’ evenings by the water, ‘normal’ food currently seems a little underwhelming after our feast.
Views from the Property
A room with a view
Watching the sunset over Gosport
Watching the sunset over Gosport
MV Victoria of Wight
Victoria of Wight arriving at Portsmouth from Fishbourne
Victoria of Wight departing Portsmouth for Fishbourne
Victoria of Wight departing Portsmouth for Fishbourne
Victoria of Wight arriving at Portsmouth from Fishbourne at sunset
MV Bretagne
The Bretagne passes the Round Tower on her 20:15 departure to St Malo
The Bretagne passes the Round Tower on her 20:15 departure to St Malo
The Bretagne inbound to Portsmouth from St Malo
The Bretagne inbound to Portsmouth from St Malo
The Bretagne inbound to Portsmouth from St Malo
The Bretagne inbound to Portsmouth from St Malo
The Bretagne inbound to Portsmouth from St Malo
MV Normandie
The Normandie inbound to Portsmouth from Caen (Ouistreham) at dusk
The Normandie inbound to Portsmouth from Caen (Ouistreham) at dusk
The Normandie inbound to Portsmouth from Caen (Ouistreham) at dusk
The Normandie inbound to Portsmouth from Caen (Ouistreham) at dusk
The Normandie inbound to Portsmouth from Caen (Ouistreham) early in the morning, viewed from the bedroom window!
HSC Normandie Express
The Normandie Express arrives at Portsmouth from Cherbourg
MV Mont St Michel
The Mont St Michel seen departing Portsmouth for Caen (Ouistreham)
The Mont St Michel seen departing Portsmouth for Caen (Ouistreham)
MV Etretat
The Etretat departing Portsmouth for Le Havre
The Etretat departing Portsmouth for Le Havre
MV Cap Finistere
The Cap Finistere entering Fountain Lake, heading for Portsmouth International Port at the conclusion of her crossing from Spain
The Cap Finistere entering Fountain Lake, heading for Portsmouth International Port at the conclusion of her crossing from Spain
The Cap Finistere entering Fountain Lake, heading for Portsmouth International Port at the conclusion of her crossing from Spain
The Cap Finistere departing Portsmouth on yet another crossing to Spain
The Cap Finistere entering Fountain Lake, heading for Portsmouth International Port at the conclusion of her crossing from Spain
Where We Stayed
All photographs on this page taken by Ray Goodfellow were produced using a Canon-EOS 700D mounting a Sigma 18-300mm lens and a Samsung Galaxy S9+
I would like to remind you that the photos on this page may not be used without prior permission. If you require high-resolution non watermarked copies of any of my photos for your own private collection or for publication please free to get in contact to discuss your requirements.
All photographs are the © copyright of Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos) 2019, All rights reserved.
Refreshingly, delightful, open, and honest account of your lives Ray. I’m very glad to hear things are better, and delighted at your news that you will be parents. Now you shall really be immortal. Your photographs are beyond splendid. You combine artistry, with keen insights, and visual delights that make for an extremely interesting read. Good on you! And my heartiest congratulations! Caroline Wolter Hall
Thank you for the kind words Caroline. Life has been a lot more stable and secure recently and even with the news of the baby I am happy looking towards the future with my little family.
Many thanks for the kind words in regards to the photographs as well. I haven’t used a camera properly for a long time, I did have a few issues and I may have to refresh the memory by looking a few things up but I am happy with the results.
Best Wishes
Ray
btw, this website needs to get the https: in the address bar since Google changed the rules last year. I don’t know if you can see from this end, but it states “Exclamation mark in triangle + Not Secure” all in red. I know what that means – simply the stability of the address. However, many new clients might be shied off seeing what appears scary, which may limit your viewing audience. After all the hard work and dedication from you both, Nigel and Ray, perhaps best not to procrastinate any longer. I hope you don’t mind my two bits to your cookies ~ lol.
Hi Caroline,
I have looked into getting SSL authentication for the website (the https bit to anyone else reading this lol) but at the present time it is something I neither have the time, technical knowhow or funding to achieve.
I am aware that you can get certificates for free for some hosting packages, unfortunately ours isn’t one of them. I have looked at moving the site to another host but it may be a little harder than I thought as this site is currently at 13.5 gigabytes storage capacity already and our MySQL database is nearly at 70 megabytes. I am also very frightened to move it, knowing from bitter experience that it only takes one line of code to be wrong and the whole site can topple.
I can see why Google have introduced the warning, especially in regards to membership sites and websites taking payments but this site only has two members that log in, thats myself and Nigel and we are protected from brute force attacks via a security suite. Since July 2018 when Google introduced the warning we haven’t seen any real changes in our visitor numbers, on average we get around 700 hits a day and that has remained pretty steady over the last 12 months.
Other Chromium based browsers such as the new Microsoft Edge and Firefox also state that the site is insecure but thankfully it’s not in red with a big flashing exclamation mark, thanks Google lol.
I will look at the site in the future and see what can be done.
Best Wishes
Ray
Stunningly spectacular photos! Sorry, I’m often not around. And now my daughter just had a baby. I’m Oma to Hudson so a little busy.