Thursday 24 February 2011

Liverpool Docks

The Wheel is situated next to the Echo Arena and Convention Centre at Wapping Dock. I didn't go on it because the weather was overcast and the pods would have rain drops on them so it wouldn't have been very good for photographs. OAP price was £5.50, and I don't think the ride is that long.

So I went to the John Lewis multi story car park and climbed to the top of that instead. Not very good for photo's either because of all the dirty glass panels and metal work blocking the views. I had to chuckle to myself as I walked around the top floor, I bet the people watching the cctv monitors were wondering if I was contemplating jumping off, ha ha.

There are a lot of these amphibious vehicles rumbling around, I saw four in the same place at the same time so I don't know how many there are in total. Obviously road legal, I wonder how much the tax and insurance is for them.

They go in and out of the different docks, it must feel quite strange to suddenly head for the water and plunge in. Too cold for me to have a ride.

Albert Dock is surrounded by lots of eating places and shops, nice for a stroll round on a sunny day. There is a Maritime Museum, and an International Slavery Museum, both of which are free to enter and very interesting. In one corner is the Tate, which I absolutely loved, some pics of that later. There is also the Beatles Story exhibition, but at £9 OAP price, I decided not to bother. I know the Beatles story anyway, lived it and studied it for years when I was a teenager.

When I think of what the docks were like when I came here in my lorry all those years ago, it's good that they have a new lease of life. The huge warehouses are magnificent, I would like to see them all preserved, and not bulldozed to the ground. In fact I would go one step further and get Banksy to adorn them with his amazing artwork.

5 comments:

  1. Those amphibious vehicles are DUKWs (pronounced "duck"), ex-WWII utilities designed for beach landings and such like. I remember them without cabins being used for rides at Wicksteed Park lake many years ago when I lived near there; the kids loved them! There's a bit about them on Wikipedia...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't believe that you didn't use the...
    (Come on everybody, sing along now...)
    "Faireee, cross the Mairzeee..."

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You wouldn't have gone on the ferry if you had seen how choppy that water was. I didn't see a ferry, was it running?

    Thanks for the info, Albedo. I saw they were called Ducks, but couldn't work out why.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, whilst I dont come from Liverpool I spent many happy weekends there as I lived just outside until two years ago. I miss it and your photos have made me smile and feel a tad jealous that you were there. The vehicles are affectionately known by some as wacker quackers or duck mobiles. I agree that the Albert Dock is beautiful now and the Tate has some fabulous exhibitions there too. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I used to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pity we weren't there today as HMS Liverpool came in. That would have been an interesting sight.

    ReplyDelete

Some comments will be accepted. I decide which are published.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.