The weather is awful this week in the UK. There have been wind speeds of over 35mph and gusts of 40+mph means no flying for me so I decided to go back to older photos from last summer to make me feel better xD.
Here are some photos of the Costa del Portsmouth. The coastline around the city features a scattering of amazing and impressive "Palmerston Forts" from many centuries ago which were built to protect the harbour of Portsmouth against French invasion.
For an idea of the location of this particular fort, the Spinnaker Tower in the centre of the harbour is seen on the horizon in picture 1.
Some forts are still in use to this day and are restricted zones to fly over whilst others are privately owned like this one.
Full size image here: https://ibb.co/V2NP1sh
Fort Cumberland was built mid way through the 17th century as a small and oddly shaped structure. The outer walls were built up from earth and the interior buildings from brick.
At the end of the 17th century, it was decided that the defences surrounding Portsmouth harbour needed to be upgraded. The original fort was subsequently torn down and a much more fortified structure was built in the beginning of 18th century. It is larger than the original, built from wood and provides built in artillery defences which were difficult to destroy.
Full size image here: https://ibb.co/5vctvJ4
The Royal Marines and other organisations have used it as a base and training location over the decades and it briefly saw action in World War II when it was bombed by the Germans.
The fort has been owned and maintained by Historic England since 1975.
Bonus photo of the harbour of Portsmouth looking south east towards the fort.
Portsmouth Naval base is the largest dockyard for the Royal Navy and houses 2/3 of the UK's surface type fleet.
Full size image here: https://ibb.co/xznLYs0