It's the Leaving of Liverpool!

We've had a lovely week in the centre of Liverpool and we finally left yesterday (Monday).  I've put together some snippets of our Liverpool trip here.  A visit to Liverpool is really a must for any boaters.  The journey down is fascinating and being moored in the centre of the docks right next to Liverpool One (the main shopping centre) for free is too good an opportunity to miss.  Having spent 11 days in Liverpool in 2012, we tried this time to do things we didn't manage to fit in then.  There is so much available to do that we could go back to Liverpool tomorrow and still find different things to amuse us.

So here is a sample of our week in Liverpool:

 Here is the view of Liverpool waterfront from the Mersey ferry.

At Woodside on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey is a U Boat sunk in the dying hours of the Second World War.  It has been left pretty well as it was when brought back to the surface in 1997.  It had to be cut into four pieces but is pretty impressive as you can see into each end of each piece.

Snowdrop, one of the Mersey ferries, has been painted in 'Dazzle Paintwork' as used in the first world war to confuse the enemy.  Behind the ferry you can make out the Catholic Cathedral on the left and the Anglican Cathedral on the right.

The Town Hall was having an open week.  Here is the opulent and well preserved Banqueting Hall.  Liverpool has lots of superb public buildings to rival cities anywhere in the world.

This is a strange picture and looks like something out of Doctor Who.  In fact it is the inside of the Central Library.  The outside of the Library is fine Georgian architecture but inside it has been completely reconstructed.  What you can see is a teardrop shaped rooflight with staircases criss-crossing the atrium below.  The library also has a circular reading room like the British Library in London.

This is the inside of the dome in the Port of Liverpool building (one of the 'Three Graces' - the three prominent buildings on the waterfront).  We had a walking tour in terrible rain, but got inside all three buildings on the walk.

Last time we came we were unable to book on the tour of the Beatles childhood homes (now owned by the National Trust).  This time we did the tour and here we are calling on John Lennon.  The blue plaque was put up when he had been dead for 20 years.

And here is Helen calling on Paul McCartney who had humbler beginnings than the Lennons, in a council house in Forthlin Road.

Yes, you are right, this is a Gent's toilet.  As you can see it is rather splendid and is the only Grade 1 listed toilet in the country.  You can find it in the Philharmonic Dining Rooms on Hope Street between the two cathedrals.  The Dining Rooms is in fact a pub where we had lunch sheltering from the rain.

We went up the 330 foot tower of the Anglican Cathedral and here are the 13 bells in the tower.  The central bell weighs 14.5 tons and is only rung on special occasions including Christmas and Easter.

The Cathedral is on a ridge and being 330 feet tall gives superb views, although we had to wait for a passing shower to move before we saw all of the view.  Northwards we could see Blackpool Tower, to the South we could see Great Ormes Head at Llandudno and some of the Welsh peaks.  In this view you can see Salthouse Dock where Leo was moored, just out of sight to the right.

The Cathedral is the largest Anglican Cathedral in the world and is stupendous inside.  It was built between 1904 and 1978 and the architect was Giles Gilbert Scott.  This view shows the nave with an intriguing bridge across.

On our last day (Sunday) we took the train over to the Wirral and cycled from the Mersey to the Dee estuaries over the centre of the Wirral.  We visited Port Sunlight where this picture was taken.  The fine houses were built by Lord Leverhulme for his employees at the Sunlight Soap factory.  He was an enlightened employer.  Infant mortality in Port Sunlight was half that in Liverpool.

The forecast was for rain from 6 pm but it arrived early.  Here we are on the promenade at West Kirby (the top left hand corner of Wirral) looking out at the Marine Lake and the Welsh mountains through the rain.  The sky promised more rain, so we got the train back from West Kirby.  You can buy a combined ticket for trains, buses and ferries for £5.10.  Good value!  Most attractions in Liverpool are free.




So we left all this behind and came out through the docks and up the Stanley Locks on Monday with three other boats.  We've not come far today, though Helen has opened five swing bridges to get us a few miles to Haskayne.  This afternoon we cycled to the coast at Formby where there are some amazing sand dunes.

We've called this one the 'Dune de Formby' after the Dune de Pila in South West France.  The top of the sand dunes are good vantage points to see the views along the coast.

This gives some idea of the extent of the dunes.  We walked down to the sea and Ian had a paddle too.  Well, we will be setting off now to cross the Pennines so it seemed appropriate to make contact with the sea first.

This is on an extreme zoom and then enlarged on the computer, hence it is not that sharp.  However you can make out Blackpool Tower, the 'big dipper' and Lakeland mountains behind.

Slightly to the left of Blackpool you could see the Lake District.  I think the right hand ones are the Coniston Fells, but I'm not certain.









So, after an afternoon at the seaside, having ice creams and barely getting rained on at all, we will be retracing our outward trip over the next couple of days to Wigan before we gather our courage and climb the 23 locks of the Wigan flight and set off to climb the Pennines on the last leg of our boating this summer.