More from Liverpool

Hi, nice to see you again.

Liverpool certainly lived up to expectations and we've had a ball.

We've eaten in some wonderful restaurants especially the Bistro chain of Francs, Jaques and Pierre where you can get a really good 3 course lunch for £10.50. Another place I can recommend is Miller & Carter Steakhouse in Albert Dock. We had some fantastic steaks and David (aka the Steak Monster) was a very happy man. That was a 10oz fillet on the bone and there was nothing left to take home for Chico

On Friday night Roger and I went to see Joe Bonamassa at The Echo Arena. If you haven't heard of him before he's an amazing rock/blues guitarist. He sang and played for two and a half hours solid, it's a wonder his fingers weren't bleeding!

The big wheel was still doing a roaring trade when we came out of the arena but as I don't like heights I wimped out.

The water in the dock is crystal clear and when the wind drops you can see the bottom and also the shoals of jelly fish that live here.

It was so lovely on Sunday morning that we decided to take David's boat out for a trip through the other docks so he could see the marina and the sea lock out into the Mersey. It was nice to be on a moving boat again, even if it was only for an hour.

After lunch we took the train to Crosby to see the statues at "Another Place". It was very windy and perfect kite flying weather.

The statues have changed a bit since we were here 4 years ago. Many of them are totally covered in barnacles.

It's nice to see that they are still being decorated

even if it is in NHS clothes as some sort of protest

I think I was wearing a few too many clothes to be taken on as a permanent exhibit

This morning we left Liverpool far too early (8am) but at least the sun carried on shining on us as we said our goodbyes to the Liver Birds

It was much windier than when we arrived a week ago and there were waves on the docks

We're now moored back at Litherland Visitor Moorings. The CRT guys who saw us up the locks were as cheerful and helpful as always and I can't praise them enough.

If you haven't been to Liverpool by boat yet then you MUST put it on the list of places to visit. It's amazing.

That's all for now, take care x

Another Place

After the gales we’ve had for the past few days, the weather today has been glorious; hardly any wind with full blue sky and warm sunshine.  We decided to make the most of it and took the train to Waterloo (£3.15 each return from Central Station) then down through Crosby Coastal Park to the beach and a 3km walk along the sands following the iron statues that form “Another Place” by Anthony Gormley.

Although these statues started life by all being identical, the sun, sea and sand have weathered each one differently and they now have individual characteristics. Some are hardly touched and still smooth whereas others are more rusty and appear to have scaly skins.

the 'basic' model

Others have been “interfered with” and sport a bikini or swimming trunks

One was carrying an oar

One was wearing a charm bracelet and another was wearing a hat!

They are mounted on 3m deep pilings buried in the sand although a few can be seen standing proudly on their mounts others are being buried by the sand.

They're all facing out to see, some are 1km from the promenade.

This was definitely one of the better things we've seen whilst we've been in Liverpool, more interesting to me than a couple of the museums that's for sure.