British Isle Cruise--Day 11

August 5, 2015—Day 11, Liverpool, England

We got up early and quickly had breakfast so we could be off the ship on time to meet our tour guide at 7:30am.  We had originally booked this private tour so we could visit Wales, and cross another country off our list of places we’d been to.  Little did we know that our little drive from Leominster to Southampton would include a drive through Wales, so technically, this would be our second visit to Wales.

The excursion was everything we could hope for.  Our tour guide, Judy, met us at the cruise terminal as promised and we were quickly on our way.  The first few miles were on the motorway and A-roads (which are primary roads), then after entering Wales, we started winding our way through green hilly countryside. 

Our first stop was at an aqueduct dubbed “water in the sky.”  This area of Northern Wales had been a coal mining center as well as a center for the manufacture of bricks.  In the beginning, the coal and bricks were transported via pack animals, but this took a very long time, so an extensive canal network was built to transport the products quicker and easier via the canal boats.  One part of the canal system crossed between two small mountains (or two very high hills) by means of an aqueduct.  Today, the canal boats are motorized, but originally, pack horses were used to pull the long canal boats and there was a pathway along side the aqueduct just wide enough for one horse to walk along.  Our guide told us the horses had to have blinders on so they wouldn’t see over the side of the aqueduct—it was a very long way down to the valley below.  We walked halfway down the path (which is now a sidewalk) admiring both the beauty of the landscape as well as the canal boats that flowed passed us. 

Today, some of these long canal boats can be rented for a week’s vacation and included a kitchen, living area, and bedrooms (how many depended on how long a boat you wanted).  Apparently, all it took was an hour’s instruction and a map of the canal system, and off you could go winding your way around the country stopping at different mooring areas for night, or just to get off and enjoy a meal at a restaurant or pub.  Others, without the bedrooms, could be rented for a daytrip.  Seems like it would be a very relaxing vacation (but I think it would be easy to get bored very quickly).

Our next stop was the town of Llangollen where we would board an old-time steam train to the town of Carrog.  Since we were early, we were able to walk through the town, and once we arrived at the train station, had tea, coffee, and Welsh cakes which were recommended by our tour guide as something we should try.  The Welsh cakes were very good—it was something like a cross between a biscuit that didn’t rise and a cookie.  There were raisins baked into it, and it wasn’t very sweet.  Most of the English, and European, desserts aren’t very sweet (which really makes them more dangerous since you feel as though you could eat more of them—lol).

The train station is very quaint and reminiscent of the train stations from a by-gone age.  Judy had prepurchased the train tickets and had reserved seats for us, which was great since one of the cruise ship’s tours arrived to take the same train.  She saw us settled on the train, then got off to drive her car to Carrog to meet us.  We had an entire compartment by ourselves and enjoyed taking the old steam locomotive train through the countryside stopping at a few stations along the way, passing fields with grazing sheep, and just enjoying the views.  My dad is a train aficionado, so this was a treat for him. 

Judy was waiting for us with a couple of umbrellas (it was sprinkling) when we got off.  She then drove us back to LLangollen to the canal boat station where we boarded one of the horse-drawn canal boats for a leisurely float down one of the many canals.  I was right that this would be a very relaxing thing to do…and I was tempted to take a nap, it was so relaxing. 

When we got off the canal boat, Judy asked us if we would prefer to take the scenic route back to Liverpool, or take the more direct route via the motorways; we elected to take the scenic route.  The Wales countryside consisted of green hills with hidden vales, was sparsely populated, but dotted with quaint little villages, and in between the villages were pastures with sheep and lots of trees.  There was no litter along the streets and no billboards anywhere to be seen. 

Our guide was very informative and regaled us with history, legends, and general information.  It was obvious she loved Wales and was happy to share it with visitors.

Driving through Liverpool, she told us the story of the two half bird, half dragon statues that were perched on a building near our ship.  The half bird, half dragon creature was a symbol of Liverpool.  She then said that the one facing out to sea was female and looked out to sea as a symbol of the women who waited for their men to come back from sea, hoping they would return safely.  The other one was male, and faced inward toward land, and being male, was, of course, looking for the nearest pub.

Judy dropped us off at the Mersey Maritime Museum near our ship as we had asked.  She offered to stay and wait for us, but since we weren’t sure how long we would stay, we told her we would walk back to the ship; it wasn’t that far along the wharf and we could see the ship from there.  Judy had been a wonderful guide and I would highly recommend her for anyone visiting Wales.

The maritime museum, like most of the museums here, was free to enter.  There was an emigrant exhibit we wanted to see since our ancestors boarded their ship in Liverpool, as most of the emigrants did, and sailed to America.  It wasn’t a large exhibit, but it was interesting and provided some idea of the conditions they must have endured, both in port when they arrived and while they waited, sometimes days or weeks, to board the ship that would take them to the new land.  I can’t imagine the courage it must have taken to face the unknown voyage and life in an unknown country (especially without the luxuries we were enjoying on our cruise). 

We were back on board around 3:30, and stopped by the piazza for a warming cappuccino and tea, with a little snack (since we hadn’t had much to eat).  We made plans to meet up at 5:30pm, just before sailaway to have a sailaway pina colada in honor of Sarah, my great grandmother, who boarded a ship in Liverpool along with her six children, including my grandfather who was just a 9-year old child at the time.  I’m sure her sailaway wasn’t nearly as pleasant as ours, but we felt we had to remember her and her bravery in facing an unknown future.  (I wouldn’t have sailed with six children even on today’s ships, let alone back then!)

We thought about going to the dining room, but then I read in the Princess Patter (this ship’s daily schedule of events) that the buffet would be serving Mongolian BBQ.  Since both my mother and I really like Mongolian BBQ, it was back to the buffet once again for dinner.

Surprisingly, the casino opened later in the evening, and we all went there for a short time.  It was packed with passengers, probably because it isn’t open much on this itinerary.  Unfortunately, we all lost. 

Tomorrow, the ship would port in Belfast.  We had not made any excursion plans, and instead we were going to relax, maybe watch one of the many first-run movies in our cabin, and do some laundry.  Unfortunately, plans don’t always work out.  Due to the on-going incident of gastroenteritis (noro) on the ship, we were told they would do another complete sanitation of the ship while it is in Belfast and that we would need to depart our cabins early the next morning.  We’ll see how it goes…and hopefully, the sanitation will help.