Salthouse Dock, Liverpool to Burscough: 25 miles, 6 locks,

3 Liverpool Link tunnels, 10 swing bridges

So much to see, so much to do… During the week moored in Salthouse Dock there were new places visited and others revisited.Many of the museums in the city are operated under the umbrella of National Museums Liverpool.   In these museums the staff wear distinctive turquoise blue shirts which makes them easy to spot; in every location the staff were brimming full of advice, enthusiasm and information.Cracking the bus code (which number bus, where to, where from, where to get off) allowed for a hill-free visit to the St George’s cultural area of the city. Here within a short distance of Lime Street Station is a row of impressive buildings. There‘s a huge amount to see at the Walker Art Gallery   but the major attraction currently is a touring exhibition that focuses on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style.   In the same area (William Brown Street) is the World Museum. Here a brief visit was made to the Ancient Egypt Gallery on behalf of the Cheshire One... Between the Art Gallery and the World Museum is the stunning Central Library – a refresher visit was made to gaze upon the stunning modern interior and at the beautiful book-lined Picton Reading Room.  Revisited too was the Maritime Museum in Albert Dock. A gallery explored this time was Seized!  It covers smuggling and taxes, ancient and modern…  The Museum of Liverpool houses fascinating displays inside its stunning waterside building. A new display (and highly recommended by museum staff) is an examination of an area of the city known as Pembroke Place. An unexpected curiosity was this.  (Sisters, remember the Bayko discovery a few weeks ago?) It's a Bayko model of the Empire State Building... There was a first visit to the Tate Gallery (in Albert Dock)  for colour, pattern and an informal talk on the creation of this very eye-catching floor. Look closely in each gallery to see the links explored between a key piece (here, LS Lowry) and subsequent artists: Some of you might remember the untimely cancellation of a Sweeney Todd performance at the Everyman Theatre on Tuesday evening (Euro football match related…??). A re-booking for Friday seemed a safe bet – and so it was, a sparkling, gripping musical melodrama performed entirely in the round. A return was made to ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’ on Saturday evening.  Here in the Metropolitan Cathedral the combined choirs of the Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Anglican Cathedral, along with four soloists and the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra performed The Messiah.  Totally glorious sound in a spectacular setting. 

…..

The sun shone on Liverpool Exit Day: at 0750 the docks were quiet and the gate which retains the water level in Albert Dock was still raised.  At 0802 the gate was lowered. Farewell Liverpool. Tunnels…  Locks shared with beautiful week-old Silver Fox* …  Cormorant wing drying platform… Sid’s Ditch… Cranes and the six-sided Victoria Tower…Emerging from the top of Stanley Locks, lock keeper Jules ready to close up the gates… Out through the city, passing not a scarecrow but a dummy on a bike… A couple of miles on the greens, the whites and the new life on the water were a reminder that this is Spring, a fact overlooked amongst the glitz and the glass of the city. What next?Liasions, several of them -  a midday passage through the (now) manned Bridge 20 on Monday, an efficient engine service at Scarisbrick Marina, a reunion with the Tentatrice crew on Tuesday, a plan to catch the tide on Friday to cross to the Lancaster Canal...*Silver Fox: the owners of this new boat (the shell built by Aintree, the interior fit out by Bickerstaffe) have made a series of vblogs, charting the boat's build from baseplate up. The link to their vblog on Youtube follows their maiden trip into Liverpool and their return out, lock-sharing with Cleddau).