23rd August 2018 - Liverpool
Kms today = 397
Kms To date = 9,902
We only needed to leave Twyford at 2:00pm to get to Liverpool by 6pm for our 7.15pm ferry to the Isle of Man. I had called Jonsy yesterday and arranged to have lunch at his place in Oxfordshire. We had to leave his place by 2.30pm to make the ferry We headed up the M40 towards Birmingham and turned off near Oxford to get to Jonsy's place which is quite near Blenheim Palace. We arrived on time at 11am. Lucy wasn't there as she was working as a counsellor for a local NGO. We had coffee and went for a walk down to the river and then back to his allotment to dig up some potatoes for lunch. Jonsy has to take it easy on his walks as he can run out of breath. The weather was fine and mild and we took it easy so he finished the walk OK. I asked him to give me a brief update on his life since I met him in our flat in Bryanston Street, Marble Arch in 1964. Three marriages later we were up to date. His health is not brilliant but he manages to get along OK. He cooked strips of beef on his BBQ and we had the potatoes and tomatoes from his garden. All very tasty.
We left on time at 2.30pm and headed back to the M40 but soon met a traffic jam caused by a road maintenance gang blocking two lanes of the three lane motorway whilst painting the median strip!!We then headed north and as soon as we passed the toll booths on the M6 past Birmingham the traffic ground to a crawl because of road works for bloody miles ostensibly to produce a "smarter" motorway. We started lane splitting to try and catch up a bit of time but we could only do 20-30 mph. Then it started to rain and we had to stop to put our wet weather jackets on. It would take too long to put the pants on and we were losing too much time. At the same time the lanes narrowed and we couldn't lane split anymore so we crawled along at the same pace as the cars. It really poured and we both got thoroughly soaked. Eventually we saw a turn off to North Wales via the M56 and a sign for Birkenhead which is just across the Mersey from Liverpool. We took the exit and Mabel soon had us on a route to Liverpool. We were not going to make the ferry so we refueled and headed through the Birkenhead tunnel to Liverpool. We should have used Google Maps to plot our route as it shows all the roadworks and traffic snarls.
When we eventually got to the ferry it was still there at 7.30pm but just about to leave. We couldn't get on it so we changed our ticket to the 3am ferry at an extra cost of 224 pounds!!!!. What a blow all the savings we made booking early last November were gone!! We parked our bikes in the ferry parking and headed for the Crown Plaza hotel across the road for a feed and to try and dry out a bit. After a great meal we played Gin Rummy and I won 2-1!! We checked our bikes in at 11.30pm and headed for the "lounge" which was on a floating pontoon. We dozed and talked until 2.15am when they called us to load the bikes on the ferry. Unfortunately it started to rain quite heavily as we were waiting to ride on board. I got soaked AGAIN. Colin had his his wet weather jacket on so he was OK. We eventually found our allocated seats and as the heating was on full blast I took my wet riding jacket off. When we got underway the cooling came on so I had to put the damp jacket back on. In the end I was lucky not to get double pneumonia!! The crossing was fairly rough, the captain was expecting winds force 6 to 7. A couple of passengers in another lounge were heaving their guts out at full volume!! Colin was a bit under the weather and had to visit the head a number of times to deal with Jonsy's barbeque; but survived OK. The crossing takes two and three-quarter hours. The ferry was one of those Incat catamarans from Tasmania. We fell off a couple of waves with a bang. We eventually arrived in Douglas at 6am with dawn breaking.
Kms To date = 9,902
We only needed to leave Twyford at 2:00pm to get to Liverpool by 6pm for our 7.15pm ferry to the Isle of Man. I had called Jonsy yesterday and arranged to have lunch at his place in Oxfordshire. We had to leave his place by 2.30pm to make the ferry We headed up the M40 towards Birmingham and turned off near Oxford to get to Jonsy's place which is quite near Blenheim Palace. We arrived on time at 11am. Lucy wasn't there as she was working as a counsellor for a local NGO. We had coffee and went for a walk down to the river and then back to his allotment to dig up some potatoes for lunch. Jonsy has to take it easy on his walks as he can run out of breath. The weather was fine and mild and we took it easy so he finished the walk OK. I asked him to give me a brief update on his life since I met him in our flat in Bryanston Street, Marble Arch in 1964. Three marriages later we were up to date. His health is not brilliant but he manages to get along OK. He cooked strips of beef on his BBQ and we had the potatoes and tomatoes from his garden. All very tasty.
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| Jonsy preparing lunch! |
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| Jonsy cooking lunch! |
When we eventually got to the ferry it was still there at 7.30pm but just about to leave. We couldn't get on it so we changed our ticket to the 3am ferry at an extra cost of 224 pounds!!!!. What a blow all the savings we made booking early last November were gone!! We parked our bikes in the ferry parking and headed for the Crown Plaza hotel across the road for a feed and to try and dry out a bit. After a great meal we played Gin Rummy and I won 2-1!! We checked our bikes in at 11.30pm and headed for the "lounge" which was on a floating pontoon. We dozed and talked until 2.15am when they called us to load the bikes on the ferry. Unfortunately it started to rain quite heavily as we were waiting to ride on board. I got soaked AGAIN. Colin had his his wet weather jacket on so he was OK. We eventually found our allocated seats and as the heating was on full blast I took my wet riding jacket off. When we got underway the cooling came on so I had to put the damp jacket back on. In the end I was lucky not to get double pneumonia!! The crossing was fairly rough, the captain was expecting winds force 6 to 7. A couple of passengers in another lounge were heaving their guts out at full volume!! Colin was a bit under the weather and had to visit the head a number of times to deal with Jonsy's barbeque; but survived OK. The crossing takes two and three-quarter hours. The ferry was one of those Incat catamarans from Tasmania. We fell off a couple of waves with a bang. We eventually arrived in Douglas at 6am with dawn breaking.
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