About Me

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After thirty years of hiring, I finally bought my own 50ft boat in 2005, which was built in 2001 by Andicraft at Debdale Wharf. I mostly cruise single handed and have no problem with that, although it does take a little longer than with a crew. My mooring is on the Wey Navigation, so I have a choice of routes on the Wey or the Thames.

Sunday 24 August 2014

The Grand Canal Tour 2014. The Metropolitan Cathedral.


It was a very wet start to the day, with heavy showers and I intended going on the Mersey ferry, but not in this, so I dodged the showers and did some essential shopping. I did not have an electrical connector for a hook-up and offered my free10kw card to my neighbour, but he said that a lot of the connections were free and offered his connector for me to use. Sure enough, I had £6 worth on the meter and it remained at that for the rest of my stay here, so I had battery charging, which kept the fridge going and hot water as well – luxury!

The rain eased off at lunchtime, so I decided to take a walk up to the Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral. It was further than I thought, well only one mile, but it was mostly uphill and hot by now. It was well worth the effort, as you will see. I was astounded at the amount of repair work required after completion, which alone cost £7 million; so much for modern materials and new methods of construction. I’ll bet the Anglican Cathedral nearby never had those problems.
 
 


Views of the stained glass in the lantern.

Views across the circular nave. The blue lighting is through glass.
 
After a short recovery time, I ventured out to the Baltic Fleet, which has quite a history.http://www.balticfleetpubliverpool.com/  It is a very old dockside boozer, surrounded by modern developments. Plain floorboards, chairs and tables and a few Cunard posters on the walls, but they brewed their own beer and very good it was too – well worth a visit and I nearly missed it!

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