Seen on my afternoon walk

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

As in previous days the weather offering only one shade of grey , dull and overcast . Yet I have plenty of pictures of recent visitors to the Mersey . One being the 9773 ton suction dredger Barent Zanen presently operating on the river Elbe near Cuxhaven . The other regular visitor is Her Majesty's Cutter Seeker a 42 m long Boarder Agency cutter . A fine looking ship and I've yet to see a model on my travels?

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Another superb day and it's nearly December !

Now working out in Liverpool bay but the Trailing suction hopper dredger is a regular visitor .

The Union Fighter as seen on a previous page entering the Mersey

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Yesterday proved to be a superb day for a walk with the camera , bright and sunny . Caught the maritime traffic just prior to high tide as movements in and out of the Mersey are at their most active .Here the container ship Atlantic Companion leaves the Mersey whilst the small but attractive general cargo vessel Assvik arrives .

Dave Wooley

[Terry PlumridgeParticipant @terryplumridge66794]

Hi Dave,

I noticed on the earlier pictures of "Atlantic Companion" that the stern has a unusual geometry to it. Do you know why this is?

Cheers, Terry.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Terry Yes it allows the ship to berth at the dock to discharge and load . at an angle ,.with out the need for a dedicated loading bay .

This particular model of the Atlantic Conveyer seen at the Merseyside Maritime Museum shows the stern door and the internals.

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The winter sea mist has made its presence felt and as the last good day for taking pictures on my walk was Tuesday here are a few more pictures from that clear mist free day .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

My Walk today took me to Alfred Lock to see the departure of the Condock V a submersible dock barge with its cargo of the old LST 7074 better known as the Landfall . Featured earlier in these walks when being raised from the bottom of the West float dock .

Condock V heading into the Mersey on its way to Portsmouth to be restored to its original form

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Seen on my walk yesterday was a self propelled barge operated by Holyhead towing with the specific purpose of transporting the wings of the Airbus A 380 along the river Dee for onward transport to the assembly plant in Toulouse France .

Built at McTay Marine on the Wirral in 2005 and is 57.6m long by 14.8m in beam with a displacement of 235tons .

Propulsion is through Azimuth Jet thrusters

The cargo deck has a 300ton capacity lift system .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Today you could be fooled into thinking it was summer , perfect for walking and taking pictures. My first port of call most Sunday mornings is the local model boating lake and here all of the modellers and the public where making the best of such a fine day . One of the Wallasey Model Boat society members alerted me to the RNLI hovercraft doing one of its regular runs along the Wirral coast line towards New Brighton. This gave me the brief opportunity to harvest a few close in shots.

As I arrived the hovercraft was being loaded onto its transport trailer ready to return to its station about a mile and a half down the coast.

Fully loaded and back to the station

Dave Wooley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Nice photos Dave

I wonder what happened to the Land Rover & trailer combo that used to transport the hovercraft around.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Paul I really don't know . next time I visit the station I'll ask about that one.

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

Wonderful photos Dave, you are certainly spoilt for choice. It must be hard to concentrate on your walk with all that maritime activity around

Peter.

Edited By Peter Fitness on 30/11/2014 21:27:48

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Peter good to hear from you and thanks for you kind comments . I must admit it is very difficult to just have a normal stroll to burn off those unwanted calories as I take my camera along regardless and in 9 out of 10 cases end up pointing the lens in the direction of a ship . Even in the absence of a high tide there is always maritime traffic . But I often have the companionship on my walks of a lovely caring wonderful lady, a lively springer spaniel called fliss .

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Not a good day for point and shoot but Friday was .

This close encounters has a lot more to do with perspective than any bad seamanship .

And a rather small but hansom Dutch coaster Andrea .

Dave Wooley

.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The high tide to day coincided with a clear sun set [ late afternoon in summer] so after a few distance shots from when I live I thought is better to get a little closer to get some of the low light shots which of course has all the vessels entering the Mersey showing their lights.

The first two shots show the 43575 ton container ship MSC Sandra in bound from Le Havre being worked by the tugs into Gladstone lock .

The second shot , a bit grainy of the Sea Truck Progress .

Dave Wooley

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

Great low light shots Dave, very effective.

Peter.

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

Dave, I don't want to hijack your thread, but my afternoon walks are a little different to yours. I usually walk to the back of our farm, the return journey takes about an hour. My walking companion is a young lady called Nat, my son's 4 year old Australian Blue Heeler cattle dog, who loves swimming in the creek. Instead of ships I see cattle and wild life, such as koalas and the occasional wallaby. I even had a recent encounter with an Eastern Brown Snake, one of the deadliest in the world. It struck at me, but it was more of a warning than a serious attempt to bite me. Needless to say, I heeded the warning

Peter.

Edited By Peter Fitness on 03/12/2014 22:41:05

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Peter having such stunning cattle country all to yourself and of course your four legged companion is a true delight . Leaving aside the occasional unwelcomed member of the country side walking in such surroundings is a real therapy . Thanks for posting up your shots it is much appreciated.

Thanks for taking interest.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Two Ribs out on practice , one the RNLI the other Merseyside Marine Rescue Unit.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Just before the weather changed to hail I managed to get this not to distant shot of the HAM Trailing Suction Hopper dredger working the channel into the Mersey

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

With out the likes of the tug Smit Sandon very few of the larger container ships would dock ..

Dave Wooley

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

Dave,

sorry about the hail, we took as much as we could but it was determined to head down to you.

Great thread, so envious of all the shipping, anything we see is passing well off on the other side of the Bahama Bank. Still, will be in you area later in December, a Sunday boat out of Birkenhead, so I'll get in early with camera at the ready. Sailing at 14.15 so if weather is good should spot something.

Peter, just so jealous of your back door area. We don't have snakes here, nor foxes or badgers and no moles either. We do have plenty of wallabies though, tough little bugg***s them are, a wild pack of about 50 now.

Oops, cat has arrived to play on keyboard, must be food time.

Aye, Kimmo

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Kimmo good to hear from you .As they say what you get in the way of natures bounty we get in equal measure . Yes when you are heading out of the Mersey there should be plenty of activity for you to get some good shots. If you do please post them up.

Thanks for taking interest and have a good trip

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

My walk recently took me to Ellesmere Port and the Manchester Ship Canal Passing through was this 3504ton LPG carrier Gas Evoluzione . Built in Japan in 1996 . The Boat Museum is a superb location for viewing such ships close in.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

One hour ago this unusually high tide and a follow on wind created a sort of perfect storm which hit the Wirral coast with a vengeance . From a very safe vantage point this is what  waves on steroids can do and there was a full 30mintes before high tide which was a full 9.1 meters . Didn't see any ships heading towards the Mersey .

 

 

 

Dave Wooley

 

Edited By David Wooley on 08/12/2014 13:57:26

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