Portsea Circumnavigation Tour

Portsmouth's relationship with the sea is written into every building, every dock, every piece of shoreline. From a kayak, you read that story at water level - past warships, under fortifications, alongside ferry terminals and through harbour entrances that have launched fleets for centuries.

We start from Hayling Island and work our way around the island anticlockwise. The harbour section is fascinating - you're paddling past the Naval Dockyard, the Historic Ships and the commercial port where cross-Channel ferries dwarf everything around them. Then the open coast, where the views stretch across the Solent and the paddle takes on a different character.

The highlight for many people is the harbour entrance - a narrow channel where the tidal current runs fast and the big ships pass close by. We time it carefully and cross with the tide, which is about as exhilarating as paddling gets without involving white water. By the end of the day, you've circumnavigated an entire island, covered twenty-one kilometres and seen a side of Portsmouth that even locals rarely experience.