LEE-ON-SOLENT

Further along the Solent heading east is the small town of Lee-On-The-Solent, with a shingle beach backed by the seafront. The town was the home of Royal Naval Air Station HMS Daedalus, which has since closed, but an airfield remains here. It also has a rather unusual museum, the Hovercraft Museum, which has just held a Hovershow showcasing historic and modern hovercraft, seaplane displays and much more.

In 2006 the town hit the news when 900 homes had to be evacuated following the discovery of 30 unexploded Canadian pipe mines during repairs to the runway at Daedalus airfield. The mines were left over from World War II, when at one time there were 265 pipe mines on the airfield packed with 2,400 lb of gelignite. There is an interesting walk from Lee-On-Solent towards Gosport taking in an area known as Browndown, which is a former naval firing range, where there are still relics remaining from its former existence.

Map of the area.

Lee On Solent Beach -0 geograph.org.uk - 1106604. Photo by Kevin Legg, via Wikimedia Commons.