The derelict Littlewood's building is spotted
Liverpool to Baile an Sceilg, County Kerry, Ireland - 30th July 2017
After discovering that car hire for our two-week trip to Ireland was nearly as much again as the holiday itself, it was decided that Nosher would drive our own car over to Kerry instead and pick up Isobel and the boys from Kerry Airport. This first required a 4.5 hour drive to Liverpool, which would have been fine apart from trapped nerve in the lower back which went off about four hours before leaving, and which involved almost getting trapped in the bogs at Sandbach Services on the M6, thanks to some extreme pain. Nosher's last visit to Liverpool had been on a school trip to the two cathedrals back in around 1977, and so it was good to have a couple of extra hours to go and visit "Paddy's Wigwam", otherwise known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, for the second time. And in an almost-unique reversal of childhood memories - completely unlike, say, Wagon Wheels - it actually seemed a lot bigger now than it did at the time. Sadly, the cathedral itself was closed for a service, so it wasn't possible to check whether the inside still smelled like a densist's surgery - another memory from the first visit. The biggest revelation though was reserved for the journey from the cathedral to the Port of Liverpool near Bootle, where unexpectedly epic scenes of dereliction were beheld - mile after mile of abandoned warehouses and now-cleared wasteland hinted at both how staggeringly vast the docks of Liverpool once were and just how much they have disappeared since. The knackered back didn't allow much walking-based exploration, but it was absolutely amazing and was probably worth a whole day of poking around in its own right. Eventually, after checking on board the overnight freight ferry and crashing out in the cabin for eight hours, arrival in Dublin occurred at about 5.30am, so there was a bit of time to swing by Da Gorls' house, as they're always up at stupid o'clock anyway, and crash out for a couple of extra hours before the 3.5 hour drive down to Kerry Airport in Ireland's south west, and beyond to our first port of call - Baile an Sceilg, deep in the Gaeltacht.
next album: Baile an Sceilg to An tSnaidhme, Co. Kerry, Ireland - 31st July 2017
previous album: A SwiftKey Innovation Week, Paddington, London - 27th July 2017
The epic derelict Littlewood's Building
The J&C Moores Ltd building
The Celtic Corner pub in Liverpool
Chinese takeaway on Green Lane
Liverpool's Catholic cathedral
View of the Anglican cathedral from the steps
The cathedral's central 'wigwam'
Modernist sculpture
The streets of Liverpool through stained glass
Great Orford Street and some basic graffiti
The revamped Albert Dock, near the Liver Building
An epic derelict warehouse
Cleared docks
Derelict wet dock and clock tower
Some of the acres and acres of cleared wasteland
More of the epic derelict warehouse
Clarence Graving (Dry) Dock
Some business cling on near Clarence Graving Dock
An old swing-bridge control room
A warehouse that looks like an aircraft hangar
More derelict warehouses
Down at Liverpool Port
Nosher's room for the night
The Winkies in Dublin Bay at around 5am
The new Poolbeg Generating Station
Poolbeg, near the Winkies
A view from the ferry
Looking up the Liffey
Nosher's car and random other vehicles
The Odlums silos on the docks
Nosher drives through Killarney to kill time
Street and barbershop in Killarney
Farranfore station in the rain, after a car kip
Bridge over the railway at Farranfore
Farranfore station manages to look derelict
Isobel and the boys pile out of Kerry airport
Crowds outside Kerry Airport
Cashing in on the Force Awakens connection
Our €20 just gets us fish and chips for tea
Cable O'Leary's bar
The Roving Swan - the world's oldest Seine boat
Fred runs around
There's some rock/trad in Cable O'Leary's
Trad music in the pub
Outside, Fred kicks around
Our first view of the beach
A boat out at sea
There are palm trees on the beach and everything
Dancing breaks out in Cable O'Leary's
Harry's not impressed by the noise
Guitar and fiddle
A drunk dude does some drunk-old-man dancing
There are just a few empty barrels outside
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The derelict Littlewood's building is spotted
The derelict Littlewood's building is spotted
The epic derelict Littlewood's Building
The J&C Moores Ltd building
The Celtic Corner pub in Liverpool
Chinese takeaway on Green Lane
Liverpool's Catholic cathedral
View of the Anglican cathedral from the steps
The cathedral's central 'wigwam'
Modernist sculpture
The streets of Liverpool through stained glass
Great Orford Street and some basic graffiti
The revamped Albert Dock, near the Liver Building
An epic derelict warehouse
Cleared docks
Derelict wet dock and clock tower
Some of the acres and acres of cleared wasteland
More of the epic derelict warehouse
Clarence Graving (Dry) Dock
Some business cling on near Clarence Graving Dock
An old swing-bridge control room
A warehouse that looks like an aircraft hangar
More derelict warehouses
Down at Liverpool Port
Nosher's room for the night
The Winkies in Dublin Bay at around 5am
The new Poolbeg Generating Station
Poolbeg, near the Winkies
A view from the ferry
Looking up the Liffey
Nosher's car and random other vehicles
The Odlums silos on the docks
Nosher drives through Killarney to kill time
Street and barbershop in Killarney
Farranfore station in the rain, after a car kip
Bridge over the railway at Farranfore
Farranfore station manages to look derelict
Isobel and the boys pile out of Kerry airport
Crowds outside Kerry Airport
Cashing in on the Force Awakens connection
Our €20 just gets us fish and chips for tea
Cable O'Leary's bar
The Roving Swan - the world's oldest Seine boat
Fred runs around
There's some rock/trad in Cable O'Leary's
Trad music in the pub
Outside, Fred kicks around
Our first view of the beach
A boat out at sea
There are palm trees on the beach and everything
Dancing breaks out in Cable O'Leary's
Harry's not impressed by the noise
Guitar and fiddle
A drunk dude does some drunk-old-man dancing
There are just a few empty barrels outside