The Neolithic Menhir of Champ Dolent is the largest standing stone erected in Brittany.

Standing on a low hill located South of the City of Dol-de-Bretagne it measures approximately 9.5m high although is considerably larger when you consider the amount of stone that lies below ground level.

The word Menhir is Britannic meaning stone and high. The stone is made from from sculpted granite and it is said that the stone was transported to this site from over 4 Kilometers away. 

The stone was located not far from where we were staying in France and is a very short journey from the main road. There seem to be a number of legends about this stone including it was thrown from the sky, it marks the site of a battle and it is slowly sinking into the ground and when it eventually disappears the world will end. 

The reasons for its existence and what made people move and erect the stone at this place is however lost in time.

The stone was however cut, transported to this site and erected which bearing in mind its size was a feat of engineering and logistics for the time. 

We visited the site on the 17 April 2014 - It is worth a visit.

Danish registered catamaran Crew Boat Bayard 2 photographed in Liverpool Docks on 9 April 2014. 

With a number of other vessels she was preparing to pull alongside the accommodation ship Wind Solutions to take on personnel before heading out to the new wind farm being constructed off the North Wales coast.

She is a Bayard Class vessel and can accommodate 12 personnel and 3 crew as well as up to 8 tonnes of cargo on the 51m2 foredeck which has a
maximum loading of 2t/m2.

For cargo handling she is equipped with a Meydam TMP900K  deck crane which has a 3t maximum lift capacity although this reduces to 1.1t at maximum outreach (7.6m).

Powered by twin MAN D2842 LE 410 V12 diesel engines each with an output of 749kW engines she can make 25 knots with a 5t cargo. The vessel is also equipped with two 20kW auxiliary engines and a pair of 32kW bow thrusters. 

She is 20.9m long with a 7m beam and 2.1m maximum draught.

Range is 775nm and she is able to operate up to 100nm from shore.

The vessel can undertake a multitude of roles and have been specifically built for supporting offshore operations including fuel transfer operations

She is one of a number of Bayard Class vessels operated by Fred Olden Windcarrier which was established in 2008 to meet market demands for
offshore installation and support vessels.

She is one of four vessels ordered in January 2011 at a cost of NOK 25 million each.

MMSI - 219016663
REG - DK, Fredericia
IMO - 9646132
Call Sign - OIY2
Crew Boat
Built - Baatservice Holding, Mandal, NO
Yard No. - 96
L 20.9m W 7m
GT 118
Year - 2011
Liverpool, 9 April 2014

Alkmaar Class Mine Hunter HNLMS Zierikzee (M862) arriving in Liverpool on 11 April 2014 after taking part in Exercises off the Scottish Coast.

She was built as a joint venture with France and Belgium.

Overall she is 51.5m long with a 8.96m beam and 3.6m draught.

Displacement is 536 t and 605t when fully loaded.

Powered by a single Werkspoor RUB 215 V12 diesel (1370kW) engine she
has a speed of 15 Knots and a range of approximately 3,000 nautical miles
at 12 knots..

Crew is 42.

Armament consists of a 20mm gun and 12.7mm machine guns.

MMSI - 244591000
Call Sign - PAEM
L = 52m x W 9m
GT - 605
Built - 1987

Ships and other vessels I saw whilst on holiday are noted below. 
 
I did think that I had seen more than this but quite a number of vessels I had seen before under different names. 

Heading back home the weather in the channel was not good and I only saw one new  ship in the mist compared to thirteen on my outward journey when visibility was excellent.

Purfleet 

Seamarlin, 9380489, Oil  Products Tanker, GT 26548, 2007

Dover

Cefas Endeavour, 9251107, Fisheries  Research Vessel, GT 2983, 2003
Glovis Countess, 9476721, Vehicles Carrier, GT 60213, 2010
Labrador, 9415222, Bulk Carrier, GT 19637, 2010 
MSC Sonia, 9404663, Container  Ship, GT 153092, 2010 
Sloman Producer, 9161003, Ro-Ro  Cargo Ship, GT 7260, 2004
MSC Tokyo, 9295361, Container  Ship, GT 65483, 2005 
Emstal, 9073086, General  Cargo Ship, GT 3791, 1994 
Wes Gesa, 9504061, Container  Ship, GT 10585, 2012 
Bow Elm, 9388302, Chemical  / Oil products Tanker, GT 26329, 2010
Star Service I, 9438424, Refrigerated Cargo Ship, GT 4030, 2008
Summer  Flower, 8413019, Refrigerated Cargo Ship, GT 12659, 1984

Dover Straits

Arctic Char,  9332640, Chemical  / Oil products Tanker, GT 42889, 2010
Meri, 9622502, Heavy Lift Vessel, GT 3360, 2012 
Fulda, 9191278, General  Cargo Ship, GT 2997, 1998 
Najade, 9467213, General  Cargo Ship, GT  2862, 2011 
Marycam Swan, 9409168, LPG  Tanker, GT 17993, 2009 
BBC Greenland, 9427079, General  Cargo Ship, GT 7002, 2007 
Cancun, 9587269, Bulk  Carrier, GT 106847, 2014
Krisjanis , 9314870, Chemical  / Oil Products Tanker, GT 23315, 2007
Magnus F, 9306835, Container  Ship, GT 9931, 2006
Adfines Sea, 9580962, Chemical  / Oil Products Tanker, GT 13239, 2011
STI Duchessa, 9669938, Chemical  / Oil Products Tanker, GT 29785, 2014
Antje Wulff, 9232761,Container  Ship, GT 32284, 2002 
MSC Tamara, 9351579, Container  Ship, GT 41225, 2008
Nordic, 9663001, General  Cargo Ship, GT 2989, 1994

Calais

Ile De  Brehat, 9247053, Cable  Layer, GT 13978, 2002
Chambon Noroit, 9422172, Tug, GT 398, 2010
Chambon Suroit, 9422184, Tug, GT 418, 2007

St.Malo
 
Grande Be, 7620483, Tug, 170, 1979 
Kenan Mete, 8701935, Bulk Carrier, 8897, 1990 
Scanlark, 8505915, General Cargo Ship, 1371, 1995 
FS Antares (M770), 6131948, Antares  Class Minesweeper, GT 250, 1993
Avel Sterenn (DF46), Customs  Cutter, GT 75, 1992 
Pilsum, 9015448, General Cargo Ship, GT1662, 1993

Dinard
 
Condor Rapide, 9161560, Passenger / Ro-Ro Cargo Ship, GT 5007, 1997

Multicat workboat Suffolk Spirit photographed working in Liverpool docks on 17 March 2014.

She has an overall length of 26m with a 10.4m breadth and 3.35m draught which decreases to 2.6m when the vessel is fully loaded,

Her deck has a cargo capacity of 70t.

Powered by two Doosan engines (800hp at 1800rpm) with twin 1700mm
propellers in nozzles she has a service speed of 10 knots. A Doosan Auxiliary
engine (350hp) and 86kw generator are also provided in addition to a Kort KT170  bow thruster.

She was designed by MacDuff Ship Design who are Naval Architects / Marine Consultants based in MacDuff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  

The vessel was built and fitted out in two half's (port and starboard sections) in the Ipswich factory of Kocurek Excavators before being transported by low loader to Shotley where the two sections were welded together on the beach. She entered the water overnight on the 17/18 April 2012 and completed sea trials later the same month.

Bollard Pull is 23.5t

Deck equipment includes a 200t crane and accommodation is provided on board for six crew in three twin berth cabins together with a galley and mess room.

She is designed for towing, dive support, anchor handling, support operations and a variety of other roles.

Suffolk Spirit is operated by Shire Marine who are based in Ipswich.

MMSI - 2350915030
REG - UK, Ipswich
IMO - 9676917
Call  Sign - 2FIG9
Work Vessel / Tug
Built - Kocurek, Ipswich, UK
Yard No. 
L 26m W 10.4m
GT - 146
Year - 2012
Liverpool, 17 March  2014

Dive support vessel Halycon Days photographed in Liverpool just before I went on holiday.

She looks to be having her hull cleaned and repainted.

I have seen her many times in and around the docks and on the River Mersey.

MMSI - 235014617
REG - UK, Liverpool
Call Sign - MDFP2
Dive Vessel
L 13m W 5m
Liverpool, 11 April 2014

I have just got back from a week staying in Brittany.

In total we drove 1550.4 miles, averaging 47mph and 53.0mpg.

As we stayed in Dover the night before and crossed the channel in good weather I did see quite a number of new ships. We also visited St.Malo where access is avialble to the quayside making photography easy.

Sailing back across the Channel on Sunday the weather was not good and visibilty was limited which resulted in only one new ship being seen although AIS told me there were many others out there just out of sight.

In total I think I have seen 38 new ships to add to the list although I need to check the IMO numbers to ensure that they have not changed their names since I first saw them.

I also took a lot of photographs of ships and other things to add to my site.

When I get home from work tonight I intend to download the pictures onto the laptop.

On 29 March 2014 we went for a walk around Rivington which is in the North West of England on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.

Between 1850 and 1857 three large reservoirs designed by Thomas Hawksley were built in the area to supply drinking water to Liverpool. This was done by bullding dams and structural embankments and flooding several small valleys to form a chain of reservoirs. These are called the Anglezarke Reservoir, Higher Rivington and Lower Rivington Reservoirs. In addition to these there are two isolated reservoirs in the area called High Bullough and Yarrow.  

The photograph above is of the Lower Rivington Reservoir looking West.

Heading through woodland bordering the Lower Rivington Reservoir.

View of the Higher Rivington Reservoir from the Bowling Green where we stopped for a drink. The Horrobin Embankment can be seen on the left, this carries the road into Rivington Village and seperates the Higher and Lower Rivington reservoirs. 

View of a stony track we followed for a while which headed up out of the trees and into more open country.

View through Pilkington Woods.

The Pilkington's were an old family first recorded as being in the area in 1202.  In 1212 Alexander de Pilkington held land in the area 'in thanage, six oxgangs of land valued at 10 shillings'.

A thanage could be a Anglo Saxon term for a manor house and an oxgang is an Old English or Danish term for an old method of land measurement. It averaged around 20 English acres but was based on land fertility and cultivation and as such could be higher or much lower.

Heading towards Rivington Village down a track.

The stocks on Rivington Village green, these are dated T W 1719

Close up of the date on the stocks.

A house in the village dated 1788, this is one of a small number of dwellings located alongside the road that runs through the village.

An ancient looking pipe carries a small stream under the road.

Walking through woodland on the way back to the car.

This was one of quite a number of small streams that I saw winding their way down the hillside before flowing into one of the reservoirs.

Crystal Serenity photographed in Liverpool on 29 August 2013. 

Built by Chantiers de L'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France in 2003 as Yard
Number h32 she is 249.9m long with a 32.3m beam and 7.6m draught. 
 
She was delivered to Crystal Cruises on 30 June 2003 and on 3 July 2003 arrived in Southampton where she was formally named.

She can carry 1070 passengers and has a crew of 655.

GT = 68870, NT 34913, DWT 6945

Powered by six Wartsila 12V38B Diesel engines (52197kW) she has a maximum speed of 22 Knots.

She is one of two vessels operated by Crystal Cruises which was founded in 1988. The Company is wholly owned by  Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) which is headquartered in Tokyo.

Funnel colours

MMSI  - 311536000
REG - BS, Nassau
IMO - 9243667
Call Sign - C6SY3
Cruise Ship
Built - Atlantique, St.Nazaire, FR
Yard No. - h32
L 249.9m W 32.3m
GT -  68870
Year - 2003
Liverpool, 29 August 2013

Veteran Cruise Ship Discovery photographed in Liverpool on 11 March 2014.

Although she has visited Liverpool quite a number of times this was the first time I have seen her and although the sun was not ideally placed it was good to get a photograph.

She is 168.74m long with a 24.64m beam and 7.49m draught.

Powered by four 10 Cylinder Fiat C4210SS Diesel Engines (Total kW 18,000) she has a top speed of 18 knots.

Accommodation is provided on board for 698 Passengers in 354 cabins and 350 crew.

Launched as Island Venture for Flagship Cruises where she operated between 1971 - 1974 she has had a number of subsequent names and owners including Island Princess (Princess Cruises, 1974 - 1999), Hyundai  Pungak (Hyundai Merchant Marine, 1999 - 2001), Platinum (Fiducia Shipping,  2001-2002) before becoming Discovery in 2002 for Voyages of Discovery. She is  currently sailing for Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

Cruise & Maritime Voyages funnel colours

MMSI - 310382000
REG - BM, Hamilton
IMO - 7108514
Call  Sign -  ZCDG2
Cruise Ship
Built - Rheinstahl Nordee, Emden, DE
Yard No -  414
L 168.74m W 24.64m
GT - 20186
Year - 1972
Liverpool, 11 March  2014