The Beatles and the Ferry Cross the Mersey.

Monday 7th August 2023 in Liverpool.

This morning we took the "Beatles" bus tour around the city. As we were first on to the bus, we bagged the front seats on the top deck next to Chris, who gave a wonderfully entertaining and funny running commentary punctuated by the most appropriate music tracks.Many of us were singing along to the music!

On the way, we visited what was Ringo's local pub but is now a Beatles themed B&B. Ringo's house is down the narrow path on the right of the building. Either way, you are not going to miss the connection!

Next came a trip down "Penny Lane". The metal road name sign got nicked so many times that eventually the name was painted on the wall to make it more difficult to steal!

Our brilliant guide, Chris, kindly used M's phone to take our photo, as he did with everyone else. On the quiet, he also took a selfie on everyone's phone so that we wouldn't forget him! A tad difficult to forget a larger than life character such as he was!

John's house, where he lived with his Aunt after his parents split up, looked more affluent, although Chris did say that there are rumours it was actually a "squat" at the time - let's hope not. It is currently owned by the National Trust and there is a "Blue Plaque" hidden by the hedge. John's bedroom is top left. Chris said that John's parents split up after his father returned from three years at sea to find that John had acquired a two year old sister!

Paul's house is also owned by the National Trust. His bedroom was top right. Mary, his mother, sadly died of breast cancer when Paul was 14 and she often featured in his songs such as "Let it Be", which refers to "Mother Mary's words of wisdom, let it be". Chris said that it was his favourite Beatles song because his mother was also called Mary and she often told him to "Let it be..." when he got angry as a young man.

The tour was quite brilliant and the music choices helped to make it real, including many rare tracks like a home made vinyl of the "Quarry Men" (very early Beatles) two years before they were discovered. There is only one original copy and  that is owned by Paul McCartney. He did make ten vinyl copies and those eleven vinyl records are probably the most valuable vinyl discs in the world.

A huge "Thank You" to Chris and our driver Simon for a really great tour.

From there we went to the Ferry Terminal, from the Beatles to Gerry Marsden's "Ferry Cross the Mersey", a one hour trip up and down the river.

The ferry was the "Royal Iris" and you had to admire the way the Captain docked her gently alongside the dock against a very strong tidal flow and a strong wind.

We had a spectacular view of the city's skyline. The water and sky framed the centre of Liverpool and the "Three Graces" - which are, from right to left, the Liverpool Port Authority Building, The Cunard Building and the Liver Building, all built at the beginning of the 20th century. In its day, the Liver building was the tallest building in the country.

The Anglican Cathedral dominates the skyline as it towers (or looms?) over the convention centre where the Eurovision Song Contest was held.

After the cruise,we walked into the centre of the "Liverpool 1" shopping centre, where we had seen a coffee roaster yesterday, and had a very welcome coffee and cake before heading back to MM.

Spent a quiet evening chatting to our neighbours and filling MM wth water.