21 June, 0 miles.
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| Our sea level apartment at the Hilton. |
Did the 24 hr, hop on hop off bus tour
to suss out the layout of the town. Went around for a second time
and hoped off at the Catholic Cathedral, known as “Paddy's Wigwam”.
A modern building. There was a service of presentation from a group,
like Rotary, who do a lot of funding for the parish. Service finished
with a great peel of the bells. Most impressive. Moved down the road
towards the Anglican Cathedral stopping off at the Philharmonic
Dinning Room, a pub. A well known haunt of the Beatles so had a
coffee in there. The Anglican Cathedral is the biggest one in
England. Built of stone to a Gothic design but only finished last
century. A huge building which makes me wonder where else the money
could have been spent. As we left they provided us with another peel
of bells. We must be important.
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| Paddy's Wigwam |
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| Anglican Cathederal |
22 June, 0 miles.
Used the hop on hop off again and got
off in an area of town the furthest from the boat. Checked out an
old church near the water front. Turns out there has been a church
here for at least a millennium . The present one was built in a stile
of late 18th century. Rebuilt after the war. Walked into
Mathews Street and wondered down into the Cavern where we sat and
watched 2 acts and had an ale. You could feel the atmosphere of how
up and coming performers and bands got their start. Wondered around
the old buildings of the St George quarter. Most exciting was the
library. An old stone building that when you went inside there was
this most dramatic 21st century four story high atrium of
glass.
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| The Cavern |
Boat Maintenance day. Molly Rose has
been vibrating badly and I am concerned that too much of this could
cause all sorts of problems. Fixed up some window catches, got stuck
into cleaning out some rust under the shower floor and spraying it
with rust killer. Walked down to the nearest boat yard to talk about
the vibrations. They are coming to look in the morning.
24 June, ½ mile.
The mechanic arrived by boat at 0900.
had a good poke around and didn't think it was the gear box although
he detected a bit of gear box oil in the bilges. He came to the
conclusion that the next thing to check would be the shaft but the
boat has to come out of the water for that. The lifter was available.
After the pump out boat had been and done his job and we got a fill
of diesel it was down through all the docks to the boatyard. Lifting
out was interesting with me backing in between the straps, helped by
an RIB as there was a bit of cross wind. Once we were positioned in
the straps we got off and watched as Molly Rose took to the air. The
engineer has one look at the rear end and says shaft is OK, propeller
is the problem. Yes it had plenty of dings but it also looks like a
bit of wood has been stuck between the prop and the rudder stern
post. A bit of a discussion and few phone calls later we are advised
to go and have lunch and come back by which time they hope to have
some options available. Lunch, a good idea there is a Marina a block
away with a restaurant. No money, every thing is on the boat which is
hanging out over the water. The boss of the boatyard gives me 20
quid. I meant to pay him back, maybe one day.
After lunch we are given 3 options. 1/
Take the prop off and have it refurbished. Take about 3 weeks. 2/
there is a refurbished prop available but it would need the hole
bored out and that could probably be done by a mate of the engineer
in about three days. 3/ the prop manufactures have one off the shelf
of the right diameter but with an extra inch of throw, think that is
what it is called. The hole would need to be tapered to suit.
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| Coming up. |
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| Molly Rose can fly. |
25 June, 0 miles
Back to the Royal Court to watch a
lunch time variety show. Good fun but not a patch on Lennon.
From there it was a quick walk back to
the docks for a guided tour of the old docks. The first wet dock in
the UK. It increased productivity of goods across the docks so much
that Liverpool became the most important dock in the country. The
dock is now under the Hilton Hotel.
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| Under the Hilton |
26 June, 0 miles
Today's adventure was to Port Sunlight. A village established by Lever Bros. who decided that employees should be properly housed and treated. It was a well laid out town/village with all amenities provide. I bet they didn't have staff retention problems. From Port sunlight we took the long way home via New Brighton at the mouth of the Mersey. Fascinating watching the shipping entering and leaving.
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| Sunlight Factory |
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| A street in Port Sunlight |
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| Port Sunlight Building |
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| Fort Perch, New Brighton |
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| "Art Work" on the Mersey River bank. |
3 tall ships entered the adjacent dock
this morning. Makes the place look a bit like it would have a couple
of centuries ago. Spent some time in the slave museum before back to
the boat for a quiet afternoon. Need a day off every now and then.
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| The Tall ships |
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| This yacht arrived with the Tall ships.It had sailed in from Ireland. Owned by a Kiwi living in Liverpool. His plan is to prepare it to take his family back to Wellington |
It was Armed services day on the docks with many military vehicles to check out. Stumbled across a field kitchen and had a second lunch. The police also had a large presence and ended up checking out some of their emergency vehicles. Craig I have some ideas to bring back. As the weather wasn't the greatest spent some time in the Museum of Liverpool. Probably the best of what we saw. After tea we walked up to the Anglican Cathedral to an Organ rectal with organist Ian Tray & special artist, Tine Thing Helseth on the trumpet. At times the organ was overpowering but it is a huge place to fill. The trumpet was superb. Tine has been to Australia, I will be watching for her coming to NZ.
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| An Idea for you Craig |
“Ferry Cross the Mersey”. It's
pretty hard to get the tune out of your head while on the ferry. A
good trip and we found out more of the history of the area. Had a
look over a Steam Tug that is being restored in Albert Dock.
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| Reflections of a Ferry passenger |
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| Steam Tug. All working parts working. Interior fit out still to be completed. |
30 June, 0 miles
Maintenance day on the boat, a general
tidy up and primed a few bare patches on the back. With head down I
hear a voice, Hello there”. Heather from Napier has just arrived in
Liverpool and come down to see us. That evening we all went out for
dinner.
1 July, 0 miles.
Marmite for breakfast! Heather had
brought me a jar from home.
Up early waiting for the call to take
the boat down to get the new prop fitted. The call came to say the
prop wasn't here yet but would be tomorrow so went to town to buy
some hardware and took the opportunity to go up the radio tower. What
a great view of Liverpool and the surrounding area. Should have gone
up there a lot earlier in the visit.
That evening we went to the
Empire Theatre and watched “The Lion King” from the cheap seats
in the gods. Great show but missed some of the expressions being so
far away. Still think Lennon was the pick of what we saw.
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| Catholic Cathedral |
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| Anglican Cathedral |
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| Looking across the Mersey. |
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| Ceiling light. Empire Theatre |
2 July ½ mile
Dennis and Joan join us today so we
tidy up the engine room to make room. Up town to the supermarket to
fill the fridge and cupboards as we have no idea where we will be
tomorrow. Diana goes to meet the train and I wait for the call to get
the prop fitted. They all get back to the boat just after I have a
discussion with the boat yard about when we are leaving. Eventually
they agree that I should have the boat down at the yard by 1600. A
quick cuppa and away we go. This time all 4 of us get to experience
Molly Rose being out of the water. New prop on, back in the water and
back on the pontoon within 45 minutes. The new prop must be fast as I
lost my cap on the way back.
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| Shiny new high speed prop |
3 July, 16 ¼ miles, 6 locks, 7 swing bridges.
6 boats left the dock, 2 pairs of
narrow boats then us by ourselves as the 6th boat was a
wide beam and couldn't fit in with us. Once out of Liverpool we
travelled on for a while and enjoyed and evening moored in the
country side.
To sum up Liverpool, I would go back
again and stay for the 14 days.
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