The Liverpool Link

Wed 6th July  Melling to Liverpool

Rufford was the first to depart, too early to follow.  Scrumpy appeared to have no-one aboard, and they did not move although they had said they were booked for Wednesday.  Ellisiana left and we followed on, departing at 0840. They held Holmes Swing Bridge (10) open for us, and we travelled under the M57, and arrived at Hancock’s Swing Bridge (9) at 0905, where Rufford was waiting.  We went past and pulled onto the bridge bollards, where we also waited until 0930 when CRT staff came and operated the swing bridge for us.  This road is quite busy, so they want all the boats to go through at once to avoid holding up the traffic too many times.

Leaving our mooring at Melling, passing Scrumpy

Following Ellisiana through Bridge 10

 Waterways staff operating Bridge 9

We were in pole position, and we soon left the others behind as we passed the Aintree racecourse and travelled the two miles to the next rendezvous with CRT at Netherton Swing Bridge (6). We waited five minutes for everyone to catch up, and then we all went through together.

Bridge 6

After nearly three miles we arrived at a new push and shove swing footbridge at Litherland, where James found he could not retrieve his key. He struggled for several minutes until a CRT man came and magically shifted the handle and pulled out the key.

We pulled across to the facilities and emptied our rubbish and all our cassettes, as facilities are limited in Liverpool. We didn’t bother with the water, as that is provided on the pontoons in Salthouse Dock.

As we were leaving we spotted Miss Heliotrope (BCF) last seen on the Llangollen two years ago and before that in Hawne Basin in 2013.  We drew alongside them and they invited us for tea. As we were settling down for a chat with Peter and Maureen, Millenium Falcon (BCF) arrived having left Liverpool that morning, so Pauline and Antony joined us as well.  Maureen had just come out of hospital so Hazel and Pauline gathered round her to pray for her recovery.

Antony Peter Pauline Maureen Hazel

Miss Heliotrope

We had to cut short our stay as we had appointments to keep with CRT at the Stanley Locks, an hour away.  We passed through an area of once industrial buildings as we took a course due south, parallel to the line of the Liverpool Docks, and a mile inland.

Industrial Buildings

Old Wharves

Iron bridges

Ornate plaque

The junction at Eldonian Village

We arrived at the locks at 1250 and brought the total of waiting boats to seven. The maximum number is meant to be six – not sure why. 

Hedge Rose and Chartwell were already in the first lock, but they couldn’t start down as a special windlass is needed.  Pendlebury and Lincoln Imp were also waiting, and Ellisiana and Rufford were round the corner.  When the CRT guys arrived, they checked their list, and it was Ellisiana who were unlisted.  Whether they had failed to book, or arrived on the wrong date, or the office had bungled the paperwork we never found out, but they were allowed down the locks anyway.

Waiting for the locks

We shared with Ellisiana in the third lock, with Rufford bringing up the rear. We set off finally at 1330, arriving in Salthouse Dock at 1525. 

Leaving lock 1

 Sharing with Ellisiana

Descending Stanley Locks

The route is very interesting, with four locks going down to the docks, passing the Stanley Warehouse, the largest brick built building in the world.  We then turned left through some more unused docks, travelling along “Sid’s Ditch”, a new channel dug from a dock that had been filled in to reclaim some land.

Stanley Warehouse and the bascule bridge

Titanic Hotel

Bascule bridge

 Victoria Tower

Looking back at Stanley Warehouse

 Sid’s Ditch

Princes Dock 

We travelled through the Pierhead in front of the “Three Graces” using two more locks and three short tunnels to take us past an old lightship into Canning Half Tide Lock, and then into the historic Albert Dock.

Lock pontoon

Princes Dock Lock

Through the Pierhead

Past the “Three Graces”

Under the Museum of Liverpool

Mann Island Lock

Bar Lightship and leaning buildings

Interesting buildings everywhere you look

Canning Half Tide Dock

 Albert Dock

Finally we passed under a bridge into Salthouse Dock, where our numbered mooring S8 waited our arrival.  We moored bows on to start with, so that we could fill our water tank, before turning round and reversing in so that we could use the electric hook up.

Salthouse Dock mooring

The view from our mooring

 We took a timelapse video of the journey.

Sadly the jetties are not full length, so we couldn’t get off at the bows, and using the bow rope to moor was a challenge.  There is plenty of space in the basin. Was a boater involved in the design? I doubt it.

We took the decision to eat out in Liverpool, as we then don’t use lots of water in washing up.  Also there is a good selection of eateries around.  We chose an Indian restaurant in Albert Dock where we had a very pleasant meal, although a tad pricey.

We had heavy rain in the night, and a young black and white cat threatening to come onto our boat, which made Hugo growl.

6 locks, 12 miles, 3 swing bridges.