After having spent most of last autumn engaged in various hospital matters, we feel it’s time to make an amoebic foray into the world of excursion- but not too far and not too long!

Husband has reserved us a few nights in Southsea, a satellite of Portsmouth, only about an hour from us here on the UK’s south coast. Two months of only packing hospital necessities has not prepared me for any kind of hotel stay, so I have to think carefully about what I need- but the weather is cold, [as it should be in January here].

Portsmouth is a major south coast port and houses the Royal Navy Dockyard, as well as catering for ferries, across the English Channel and more. Southsea is the seaside part of the city, with [stoney] beaches, piers, street art, a castle and all the usual attractions and some hilarious signage. Besides all of this, it boasts a range of beautiful, historic architecture and some interesting sights as well as a vast, green swathe of common between the sea and the residential area.

The short drive and arrival are bathed in sunshine and clear blue skies so having checked in we wander out around the area and it’s a great location, just behind the stretch of common that borders the beach. The council are clearly using low season to reinforce the seafront, beefing up flood defences- cranes, diggers and piles of aggregate dominating the front. Ferries pass offshore, heading to harbour, also the Channel Islands’ hydrofoil as well as the hyperactive hovercraft to Ryde, Isle of Wight, which is what we’ll be doing tomorrow.

Portsmouth’s ancient dockyard, which houses Lord Nelson’s ship, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior [the first iron battleship] and The Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s flagship. In a previous life I’ve made regular trips to the dockyard with groups of children and know it very well. HMS Warrior is, to my mind, by far the most thrilling to visit with children as they can clamber over canons, handle objects and have a thoroughly good time. Still…

We don’t need to walk far to find a wide selection of places to eat, opting this first night for Chinese, although the meal is mediocre and the restaurant very brightly lit and not quite warm enough. There is just one other couple eating there and the experience is a little dispiriting. We decamp to the pub next door, which is cosy and welcoming and where we’ll eat tomorrow.

If I have one complaint about hotel rooms, it’s that they are too often too hot and dry, the duvets too thick. We do manage to turn off the radiator but I can only adjust the air-con down to 16, which has to do. I prefer a cool room for sleeping, even though the outside temperature is cold.

Breakfast next morning, however is very good and sets us up for some Isle of Wight exploration. Unlike yesterday though, it’s cloudy. We wrap up and head off to the hovercraft ticket office…

Jane Deans two novels: The Conways at Earsthend and The Year of Familiar Strangers are widely available