Liverpool to the Isle of Man

We left Liverpool as predicted, on Wednesday. Liverpool is a great city to visit. We visited the new Alder Hey Children's Hospital site on Monday, the project that David was working on when he retired, the hospital that is not supposed to look like a hospital. Now nearing completion it looked like living up to its brief. Good to meet some old colleagues but I don't miss the stress they are working under!

The hospital that is not supposed to look like a hospital.

On Tuesday we did more conventional tourist things, spending the morning and part of the afternoon in the Liverpool Museum. An excellent facility with plenty to see, you really need several visits to take it all in. We then visited the rebuilt Cavern Club, home of the Beatles.
We locked out of the marina at 0900 on Wednesday morning. A good marina, very helpful staff although the showers and washing facilities could do with some attention! The hardest part of visiting Liverpool is the Mersey, strong currents, a long exit/entry channel and plenty of commercial shipping in a narrow channel.

Locking out.

New and old contrast on the waterfront.

" Psychedelic ferry cross the Mersey!

The forecast for our trip to Douglas, IOM, was SW veering W 5 to 7 with moderate seas, not ideal but if we had waited another day the locking out times would have limited the distance we could have achieved in a day. The forecast proved to be accurate and gave us a challenging sail. We had set up the inner forestay and staysail and prepared sandwiches and drinks the night before on the basis that if we had got it all ready we wouldn't need it, but we needed it all. We had three reefs in the mainsail and the staysail for the entire 80 mile trip and need to concentrate hard on steering in the beam seas. Plenty of water over the deck but, other than the niggly window leaks that we have had for a while, not much found it's way below. We approached Douglas at about 2130, half an hour over our predicted ETA, but were asked by Harbour Control to stand off and wait for the SeaCat to enter and berth. Not what we wanted when we were tired and cold, but Harbour Control were very good, giving us clear instructions on where to go, arranging lifting the road bridge so we could enter the inner Harbour and having someone waiting for us at our berth alongside a tour boat for the night.

Well wrapped up.i

On passage.

We moved up to a pontoon berth at the head of the inner Harbour next morning. Good facilities but very expensive at £3.00 per metre. Very sheltered, which is exactly what we need. We've had enough of force 6 and 7 for a while!

Very quiet in the inner Harbour.

As the forecast is giving strong winds for the next few days we are staying put and have bought rover tickets to explore the island by public transport for the next three days, planning to leave for Northern Ireland on Monday.

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