We had booked 21 people to join us on the “Floating Grace” Due to illness and other reasons we ended up with 16 of us. Most of us travelled by train and underground to James Street Station in Liverpool. When we arrived there the heavens opened so we took taxis for the short journey to the quayside. Well worth it as we didn’t get too wet. We arrived at the boat and were welcomed by the crew. We then discovered that the party in the other half of the boat was a group from the Skelmersdale u3a!
The rain had stopped as we settled down to enjoy the journey accompanied by 60’s music. We were served with the lunch mainly standard Christmas dinner but with variation while the boat made its way into the Alber Dock then down through Wapping Dock and Kings Dock to Brunswick Dock. The crew were very friendly and attentive but not intrusive. While we were making our way back through the docks one of the crew, Kevin, asked if there were any recent birthdays. There didn’t seem to be any in the Skelmersdale group, but we had two in our group, Marie and Iola within a few days of our trip, so we had to sing “Happy Birthday” in English and Welsh. Kevin also made a point of wishing David a belated 90th Happy Birthday. It also turned out to be Kevin’s birthday as well.
By the time we docked again the sun was still shining so we were able to walk back to the station ready for our return arriving there with only three minutes till the next train was due, changing at Bidston for the Wrexham train was only five minutes at most so we got back to Penyffordd while it was still daylight.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the lunch and wanted to go on the boat journey again but next time with a commentary.