A Hard Days Night in Liverpool

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Today dawned brighter than we have seen for the past few days and prospects of a dry day for our trip to Liverpool seemed OK.
Outside there is the usual Sunday activity with people with ricksacks on milling about the town getting ready to head off on the large number of hiking options that you can do from the town or nearby.
With another hearty breakfast inside us we headed off with a plan to take a direct route there so we had as much time in the city to do what we want and then meander home via some lesser country roads and take in the countryside.
Traffic into Settle was pretty much non stop and one thing we have become quickly aware of is how some oncoming cars cut the corners especially on rises and this also applies even more so to motorbikes.With a left hand drive car however we are always positioning ourselves on the white fog line and that has lessened thenumber of near misses.
We had packed a lunch for the day but wanted to drop into Sainsburys at Clitheroe to buy a few supplies but more importantly top up the wine cupboard at 3 bottles for 10quid.
We made our way into Clitheroe after missing the first turn and foun our way through the narrow backstreets to the supermarket just after 10am.
What did we find??
The supermarket opened at 11am on Sundays!!!!
What is up in this country??!!We are so used to being able to visit the supermarket at home any time after 8am on a Sunday and it has frustrated us a couple of times during the time we have been in England.
Even the Booths supermarket in Settle opened at 9.30am with "browsing"(whatever that really means) from 9am.We guess you can get in and walk up and down the aisles to decide what you want for half an hour and then fill you trolley but wait until the tills open at 9.30am to pay.Quite weird!!
Anyway there was nothing we do about it so headed back onto the road again making for the M6(not Gretchens favourite road to drive on!!)near Preston.One good thing about travelling on Sundays the motorways are not quite so busy with certainly less number of trucks.
Of course the other thing she wasn't so thrilled about was that I was driving Renee Renault by the time we hit the highway and she has some way to go to gain confidence in my handling of the left hand manual car,not that I think its a problem!!
Our entry onto the highway was smooth and really it was a breeze with 3 and sometimes 4 lanes in which to travel in and once you are doing 100 or 110kph then you have time to make your moves as you are going roughly the same speed as all the rest of the traffic.
We took the M62 into Liverpool as they would have arrive at Merseyside right where we wanted to be.Light rain started to fall as we headed west which was a shame as the weather looked like it was on the improve when we left Settle.
I conceded to Gretchen as we drove into the city and let her drive and anyway I feel I have come to grips with Stans UK road atlas a bit better than she has.
Liverpool is going through big changes and we passed through a whole suburb where the housing on the main road had all been emptied of occupation and boarded up but there were big signs stating that reformation was about to start.The boarded up houses didn't look good but if thats what it takes to get things started then we guess it has to be done.
We soon found ourselves on the riverside and there was heaps of parking to choose from except the one we had tried to aim for to lessen the walking was closed because of the Liverpool Triathalon.
The Merseyside tourist area is dominated by Albert Dock a huge building that has been modernised from the old warehouse it used to be when the riverside was home to the citys port.Like many cities around the world besides the sea or river, Liverpool has gone through great change and now boasts a very attractive promenade with many of the buildings converted to either restaurants or other attractions and apartments on upper levels.
The information centre gave us what we needed and we started our day at the Beatles Experience.The exhibition covered particulary how they formed and the early years.A headset came with the entry fee so one could get as much information as one wanted to fill in the gaps that we didn't know or had forgotten about the Beatles.
It was a very good exhibition with a mock up Cavern Club which was really where it all started in terms of their professional career.
We happily spent nearly 2 hours wandreing around looking probably like stunned mullets with our headphones on and toes a tapping to every Beatles song you would want to hear!!
Then it time to actually visit many of the places the Beatles either grew up in,wrote about or played in.Yes,the BBA,spent like money was no object today(and more was to come yet)and we joined the Magical Mystery Tour(what else could it be called) with 40 other odd Beatles fans for another couple of hours being immersed in Beatle mania.
The bus tour took us to where John and Paul were born and grew up and we alighted the bus to stand and stare at the modest terrace houses.We thought that the neighbours in the streets must get heartily fed up with 40 odd people turning up 4 or 5 times a day to stare at an empty house and block the street while they take photos with their partner or friend posing at the front door.But I guess that is the price you pay for living in the streets where the most famous of all rock band members used to live.
The bus drove the whole length of Penny Lane,where the street sign used to get stolen on regular occasions so that now it is firmly bolted to the wall.We passed the Bank"where the banker never wore a Mac,in the pouring rain,very strange..." and we were told about the barber shop where the banker used to "sit and wait for a trim..." although the barber shop is now a unisex hairdresser and the Italian barber has apparently moved on(probably got sick of the busloads of people passing and gawping every day)
The shelter in the middle of the street has been turned into a restaurant with,guest what....a Beatles Penny Lane theme.Actually the Beatles cheated a bit because the Bank and the barber shop are not actually in Penny Lane but about 20 metres into the next street.
We also stopped outside Strawberry Fields which was until recently a Salvation Army home for children but is now used for administration purposes.The gates are still there on the roadside but the track leading to the building is overgrown.Seems the Sallies don't mind what it looks like as they no longer get money from Yoko now that it is no longer a childrens home.The gates are under a protection law so cannot be moved.
The tour ended at the Cavern Club and we walked down the several flights of stairs for a beer and to feel the atmosphere of the most famous club in the world.
The club itself is still in the original street but has been moved a couple of doors up the road and recreated as it was in the days of the Beatles and the hundreds of other famous banks and solo singers who played there.Then it was on the take in Eleanor Rigby a statue set to acknowledge all the homeless people in the world.
We wanted to do one more thing before we left Liverpool and that was to "Ferry across the Mersey"!!So it was back to the waterfront and we arrived just in time for the 5pm ferry to the other side of the Mersey.The ride came with an interesting commentary about the river and the trade that it had seen over the years and how the moderinsation and World Heritage status would encourage an ever increasing tourist business for the city.
One of the features of the port was that it generates its electricity from wind power and there were at least a dozen windmills dotted over the area.
With rain starting to fall again we paid the 12quid parking fee(not good for the BBA) and set off to take the back roads home.With another 4 hours or so of daylight left we had plenty of time for the 2 or 3 hour trip.
As we went looking for the A59 to Preston we spied the direction sign to Anfield Stadium,home of Liverpool FC,and so I persuaded Gretchen to take a drive to have a look.We passed by the Kop end of the ground but didn't stop as the place was closed up.However we did at least see where it was and appreciate the size of the stadium which is huge.
Then it was off into the countryside passed Aintree,the home of the Grand National,on the outskirts of the city.
The road north took us through places like Ormskirk,Burscough(where they were playing cricket on the common)Rufford and Much Hoole(!!).After Preston it became even more rural as the B6243 swund west through Grimsargh,Longridge and Knowle Green.By this stage we were well into the countryside and the road kept on rising slowly giving great views of the valley stretched out away from the road.The weather had improved and the early evening sunlight gave a soft light to the view.
With me as navigator wnating to avoid roads we had travelled before I directed Gretchen to an unnumbered road to passby Clitheroe,where we had been before.Now this was really a "noddy road"where you look at oncoming drivers in the eye and decide who is going to pull over and let the other pass first.Luckily Gretchen only had to do that once on this country lane and wisely bowed to let the other car go first.We value the wing mirrors on Renee!!!
The 4 little villages spread out over the 12 or 15 miles of the B6478 all had their own pub or two with people sitting outside enjoying an ale.We were tempted to stop but it had been a long day and we did have a pork pie waiting for our tea.We can always go back to one or two of them before its time to head away from Settle in another week.
It had been another very satisfying day of sightseeing and being immersed in Beatle mania all over again.

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Photos

Penny Lane,Liverpool
From where the song of the same name originated

Strawberry Field,Liverpool
The gates are protected under law.Note the overgrown driveway that led to the Salvation Army home for children

Downstairs in the Cavern Club,Liverpool
Where it all started.

Comments

[Rin]

That totally cracks me up that you guys went on a Beatles bus tour....and on a dirty hippy "magical mystery" bus too! But very glad you didn't forget about ol' Gerry and the Pacemakers and took a ferry cross the Mersey :-) And I never got used to supermarkets hours on Sundays! The number of times we thought we would do our weekly shop on a Sunday evening only to get to the super and find it had closed at 3pm!!

[Leebee]

At least the Sainsbury's opened on a Sunday....in our little village our local supermarket (Sommerfields...otherwise known as Scummerfields) didnt even open. We had to venture further to the Sainsburys but then only between 11 and 2 or something stupid!

[Sean]

Strawberry Field
By way of explanation I wish to infortm you about the overgrown pathway, you mention in your photograph. The overgrown path used to lead up to the old house on the site and ceased to be used when the new purpose built Strawberry Field Children’s Home and John Lennon Court (an adjacent building on the site), was constructed. Along side and included in the construction of the new buildings, alternative access and egress was provided by the builders and you would have beeb able to observe that it was a few yards further on from the famous old gates. you will see a new set of gates and a new wider driveway suitably tarmacked and sufficiently clear of vegetation.