A Fond Farewell to Liverpool.

 Sunday 13th and Monday 14th August 2023 from Liverool to Litherland.

On Sunday, we had a quiet day and very welcome it was too, after tramping the pavements of the city all week! The high spots were going once more to the HIlton for breakfast then to John Lewis to buy a new frying pan for MM; the old pan had begun to warp so it wouldn't stay flat on the hob. The John Lewis store in Liverpool is really lovely; M remarked that she didn't dare linger there!

In the afternoon we had a final walk around Albert Dock, pausing for a coffee and cake at Rubens. Red sky at night traditionally heralds good weather and tonight's sky was very red, almost ominously so, as borne out by the weather forecast for tomorrow..

The forecasted rain arrived at about 4am next morning but fortunately eased off by the time we left our mooring just after 7:00.  We followed Ken and Kate on nb "Daedalus" through Albert Dock.

Going under the bridge, we passed depth markings on the wall. We are used to canals that are maybe four feet deep, here the water is 21 ft deep!

This photo is just for our Australian friends Shelley and Harley. See you here next year! Can't wait! We've already earmarked our adjacent pontoons!!

There are two locks in the Link on the way to the Stanley flight of locks. This is just a shallow flood lock but Daedalus' cat, "Buffy" was getting excited to be moving at last after a month with her home moored to a wooden pontoon.

Buffy jumped across on to MM's roof to check us out. She is very self assured. But M held her breath as she leaped across the gap!

The Link goes through three tunnels, this one takes us under Edward VII and under the statue of the Beatles.

Almost our final view of the Liver Building, and Bertie and Bessie, the Liver Birds.

By 8:30 we had arrived at the bottom of the four Stanley Locks which take you back up on to the Leeds & Liverpool canal. As we arrived so did Sid, his wonderful volunteers - and the rain! In a way, it was appropriate, as we had arrived on the 5th August in pouring rain and we departed on the 14th in pouring rain!

Buffy was delighted to see grass after so long with only a wooden pontoon to walk on and concrete dock walls all around. She immediately jumped off to explore.

No photographs over the next couple of hours as the rain came down in torrents. Eventually we arrived at the secure moorings at Litherland.  Yesterday, we had dire warnings that the moorings there were "rammed" - imagine our surprise and delight to see that there was not a boat in sight!  So we had our choice of moorings. Daedalus came in behind us.

Overnight the C&RT had announced that the breach at Burscough should be open again on Wednesday afternoon, so everyone had headed off to be ready to go through as soon as it opens. Hooray!

As it is forecast to continue raining all day, and doing lots of annoying swing bridges in the rain is no fun, the four of us decided to stay here today and set off fairly early tomorrow when it is forecast to be better weather.

Today: 5 miles, 6 locks and 3.8 hours.

Trip: 137 miles, 72 locks and 75.8 hours.