Day 60 – Ticket to Ride (Tuesday 11th June 2024)

Last night I bought a ticket to ride….. on the train to Liverpool. And it was a bargain too, only £17.80 for two return tickets to the home of the Merseybeat sound of the 1960s. The biggest names from that era include The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers and Cilla Black. Visiting Liverpool to pay homage to those great artists who greatly influenced the music to come in the 60’s and 70’s was always high on our list of “must do’s”.

 

 

Liverpool is only 55km from central Manchester, a journey that takes about a 55 minutes on the train. Arriving at the main station, Lime Street, we stepped out into a cold and blustery late morning and developed a plan about where to go next. There were only three agenda items - explore the streets of downtown Liverpool, take a “Ferry ‘cross the Mersey” and visit The Cavern Club. We thought that the Liverpool Tourist Bureau would be the place to start. Google Maps showed us about half a dozen to pick from that all sounded like they’d be the “main office”. We chose the one down by Albert Dock figuring the recently renovated precinct and now one of the most visited places in Liverpool would be the right one. Not so, as it turned out. No drama. We were down by Merseyside where we were gonna finish up at some stage anyway so we took a nice, bit still cold and blustery, walk along the river to the Mersey Ferries terminal we could see about 1km away. On the hour throughout the day a tourist ferry leaves the terminal for a 50 minute anti-clockwise cruise down one side of the river and then back up the other stopping at the Seacombe terminal where those who want to explore the town of Birkenhead and surrounds can alight and resume their journey later in the day. We and pretty much everyone else stayed on the ferry.

 

The ferry terminal on the Liverpool side is named in honour of Gerry Marsden, the leader of the band “Gerry and the Pacemakers” who had a number of big hits, the best known of which was “Ferry ‘cross the Mersey”, hence its inclusion on the day’s agenda. We booked our tickets for the 1:00pm cruise (which came with a Seniors discount!) and had enough time for a quick bite to eat for lunch in the Fab Four Cafe. Getting out on the Mersey Ferry was a real thrill for me. We sat out at the bow to get the full experience of the cruise, as is our usual way for cruises. Along the way the recorded commentary directed our attention to the highlights we passed on either bank and, where appropriate, described the historical context. The most interesting things I learned were the astounding number of people who came to Liverpool as the starting point of their journey to far distant lands like America and Australia (9 million or thereabouts) and the astounding number of Irish and Welsh people who came to Liverpool and stayed – enough people to have a profound influence on the unique Liverpudlian accent.

Outside the Fab Four Cafe is a larger-the-life bronze statue of the Fab Four, struck in a casual “just chatting walking down the street” pose. It must be the most photographed thing in Liverpool. Of course, we got in on the act too. I’ve gotta say, the tourist who gather around the statue are most respectful and obliging of their fellow tourist who all want to be photographed with The Beatles. People get in there, get their photo taken and then get out for the next person to have their chance. They don’t hang around hogging the scene. Very nice to see. Down by the dock are three really nice late 19^th century buildings that have been very well restored. They’re set back a good 100m from the riverside so one can really appreciate their grandeur. In the same precinct, nearer to the water’s edge but not directly in front of the old buildings, are some ultra-modern buildings. As strange as it may sound the contrast actually works very well.

 

 

Photos locked away on the phone we headed for Mathew Street, not more than 1km back into town. That’s where The Cavern Club is, the venue where The Beatles were discovered and where they played about 260-odd times. It was the venue in Liverpool in the 60s and has remained that way to today, despite closures and changes of ownership from time to time. Well, we happily handed over the £5.00 entry fee and descended four flights of stairs into the venue which was, before 1957, nothing more than the cellar of a warehouse above. One enters directly into that classic place one has so often seen in early photographs and videos of The Beatles – a cramped, dimly-lit place of low, brick arches and ceiling with a tiny stage down one end. The walls are covered in rock nostalgia, signed photos of the many famous artists who have played there. Glass cabinets line the walls displaying the instruments of those who have played the venue before – some of them very famous. Bars around the venue provide refreshment for the thirsty patrons. It would be fair to describe The Cavern Club as a living museum. It’s still very much a going concern as a live music venue for aspiring artists, just as it was when the likes of The Beatles and Cilla Black stated out.

 

Past the famous front room is another, much larger stage. A young chap, Ritchie, was up there when we arrived. We grabbed a drink and a table and sat there listening to and encouraging him as he made is way with his acoustic guitar through the playlist of our youth. After his set was finished and the stage closed I couldn’t help but hand him a 10 quid tip because he provided such terrific entertainment for us and all the other “boomers” in the room. It will probably come as no surprise that 80% of the clientele were north of 55, I reckon. Everyone moved into the front room where a chap also of our vintage was belting out more of the same. People standing around were dancing to the great old tunes as each one came along. Kerry was invited onto the dance floor by a white-headed, bearded chap and they danced away together for ten minutes. We were having such a great time enjoying a pint or two and endless classic songs of our eras. This set eventually finished and the time for our return train to Manchester was approaching. I bought a tee-shirt to commemorate the great day and we headed back up to the daylight where we posed for photographs with John Lennon and Cilla Black before making our way to the station.

 

Back in Manchester we met Emily for dinner at yet another really interesting, lively and very busy venue called Mackie Mayor – another venue trading in a huge restored 19^th century building that offered a unique dining experience with a menu that was extensive and Asian-influenced but by no means to exclusion of other cuisines. A most enjoyable end to a day to remember. Incidentally, I learned from our friend Sandy later that night that today marks the 60^thanniversary, to the day, that The Beatles landed in Australia to start their 1964 and only tour of our homeland.