Change of plans - Liverpool continued

Have just spoken to Pamela - wife of Ricky (pirate of the road) who are now chatting .

Back to Liverpool - we had been to the shops, got ourselves all creamed and perfumed up so we headed to the River where we got tickets for the "Ferry across the Mersy" - two options , short crossing or long way round as a scenic trip - that did us.

The ferry was very busy - but we managed to get a good seat on the rails with all the views, sun shining - just perfect - so up to the mouth lof the river, turned and we had a good view of New Brighton on the Birkenside, side of the river, so different to the massive industrial set up on the east side. There was an excellent commentary of all the major points - did you know that Liverpool had a 110 yard swimming pool, the largest in Europe at one time - five open air pools in a small area. the Merey tunnel was the first in the Uk - with massive extractor towers at each end, ther really is a lot of history around this port which was the departure point for thousands of our folks who went to live abroad - incuding many youngsters in Institutions who were sent off to Oz - and denied knowledge of their famies, etc. this has been subject of a major investigation by the BBC.

The ferry we were on was one of the two which were used during the war in the Normandy landings and has been awarded "Royal" before its name - cannot remember its name. - silly me. HOWEVER , thanks to a friendly reader - their names are Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil.

The views of the shore were spectacular - with the Liver Birds Building - with the two Liver Birds on the roof with local folklore saying that at such a time as trhe birds are no onger on the building Liverpool wiull have suffered some major catastrophe. The building itself was modelled on a Chichago skyscraper and is the fist steel skyscraper in the UK. , and the piece box apartment block - with the two top apartments looking like a lunch box.

So we left the ferry, headed back for the car, being passed by the yellow amphibious vehicle ( DUCK) which does both dock and road tours, they looked fun , cost a bit more than the bus trip . We then headed for home , and en route got stuck in the bad trafic jam at Carlisle as I have previousl written about.