Port Solent put-in (Portsmouth)
A slipway on the harbourside coastal path between Port Solent and Portchester, launching onto Portchester Lake, known locally as Paulsgrove Lake, the tidal channel forming the north-eastern arm of Portsmouth Harbour, a large natural harbour and ria between Portsmouth and Gosport.
The land here is largely reclaimed: the eastern side of Paulsgrove Lake was drained through the 1970s for housing and the M275 motorway spur, and the Port Solent marina basin itself was built on reclaimed land in the late 1980s, so the shoreline the ramp sits on is an engineered edge rather than natural mudflat. Portchester Castle, a fortress of Roman origin and the first built to protect the harbour, stands at the harbour's north end.
The inner harbour, 1,264 hectares of tidal water, mudflat and marsh, is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and is also a Special Protection Area and Ramsar site, of international importance for its wetland bird populations.
Nearby
Costa Coffee outlet in Portsmouth Retail Park (North Harbour), about 600 metres from the slipway.
Independently named cafe close to the green space north of Port Solent, about 1 kilometre from the slipway.
Conditions to check
Portsmouth Harbour is strongly tidal, with a mean spring range of about 3.9 metres and mean neap range of about 1.9 metres; at the harbour entrance several miles south of this launch, ebb rates can reach around 5.5 knots on spring tides, about three and a half hours after high water (referenced to Portsmouth, itself roughly 29 minutes after Dover).
SourceThe northern reaches of Portsmouth Harbour, including Portchester Lake, are largely shallow and dry out significantly; launch access is recorded as available for only around a quarter of the tidal range, broadly around the higher part of the tide.
Portchester Lake is the buoyed and piled approach channel to Port Solent Marina's lock, which can accommodate yachts up to 24 metres in length; the channel carries yacht traffic to and from the marina.
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