The Estuary

In this part of the world, the tide comes in and goes out twice a day - every six hours. As Portsmouth is on an island (albeit a small one) this means the entire place goes high and dry twice a day, and this is the scene at the top of the island at that time.

On the left of the picture you can see the 'Portsmouth Sail' which is designed as a kind of 'symbol' that you're entering the city - its right next to a major junction of two motorways that meet right in that spot. IBM UK headquarters is located up there as well. A cycle track runs all along the Western side of the island and thats what you can see as you follow the right side of the picture.

As you can imagine, on a hot day this area does smell a little. To the left, out of sight, is a large scrap yard - there are constant rumours that its going to be developed into ... something. But those rumours just seem to be just that, rumours!

View a Satellite image of the location of this shot @ Google maps.

You can clearly see the scrap yard to the left and across the other side of the motorway, if you move the image you can follow the cycle track upwards towards the top of the island.