Portchester Castle

This week I went to the coast, on May Day, and on the way I stopped at Portchester Castle near Portsmouth. I arrived about 10 o'clock which is when the castles opens (although the grounds open earlier) and I was hugely impressed. This is generally considered the most intact Roman fort in Northern Europe. Only the walls and turrets are Roman, the rest has been fortified over the century, but the walls are vast and 6 metres high with the battlements intact.

I was persuaded to join English Heritage after visiting this and now have a guidebook to all their sites.

I especially enjoyed walking around the walls overlooking Portsmouth harbour, as the sea mist was coming in from Portsmouth and this made the castle hugely atmospheric.