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Hyperion & Kestrel
This is the fascinating
story of an epic journey by the Narrowboat Hyperion and her butty, Kestrel.
The journey begins in Langton
Dock at Liverpool. The boats lock out on to the tideway and follow the
Liverpool waterfront,
crossing right in front of the Old Pierhead. They work their way across
to the Birkenhea d
side, avoiding the treacherous
Mersey mudbanks before entering the Manchester Ship Canal at
Eastham.
The journey continues up the Ship Canal as far as Ellesmere Port where
we join the Boat Museum's
Annual Rally of working Narrowboats.
Hyperion
and Kestrel were escorted by the
historic ICI Brunner "Cuddington",
to which the film crew transferred
out on the tideway for a better view! We gain
a fascinating insight into the heyday of commercial
shipping on these Mersey waters by talking to a retired Manchester Ship
Canal pilot. We see an altogether
different picture when we discover among the crew a former Mersey flats
deck-hand. Finally,
we meet the woman who worked Kestrel throughout
the 1950s and 1960s, and who gave birth to her twin children in the tiny boat cabin.
This thoroughly researched programme is a real collectors item and a valuable educational resource.
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