Walking to the Isle of Wight...

...or at least that what it seems like when you walk to Hurst Castle from Keyhaven.

I shall demonstrate with this rudimentary map...



...and with this photo...



But it's worth it when you get there because, TARDIS-like, it's bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside. For a kick-off, it's very long and has two looping sections...



...to the east and the west of Henry VIII's orginal fort in the middle. The end of Hurst Spit is much bigger than I thought, too, with room for a lighthouse and a couple of cottages. (Briefly considered that it would be nice to live there, but then weighed up nice view against no Tesco home delivery, no broadband and 1½ mile walk to car and decided against it.)

The central fort was completed in 1544 and then it was added to and modernised during the Napoleonic Wars and then used again in the World Wars...



Evidence of all this "Changing Rooms" activity can still be seen and explored and it gives the whole structure a very hotch-potch kind of style...



...but you get a real sense of what it must have been like as a working fort. Not least when you use the toilets, which are the original outisde urinals used by the garrison and even have a plaque telling you about them.

You can see how the fort made this part of the Solent easier to defend. Just over the water on the island are...



...Fort Albert and The Needles, the latter helping to funnel ships into the cannons of the former. Not forgetting, of course, the cannons and guns at Hurst, which were (are still ) big...



And when you've seen enough, there's also a ferry back to Keyhaven...



...which is probably the best £2.50 I've spent all holiday.

Slideshow of all photos on...

---

OCD Footnote: This is the second Henry VIII-themed tourist attraction with the initials H.C. I have visited in 48 hours, which beats other attempts at organised tourism hands down...