Loving Liverpool

My last day in the UK. Len has been great on our previous trips, allowing me to pick the towns, the sites, and especially the pubs and the beers. When I asked if he wanted to stay an extra day, he said he would have to think about it. When I told him about the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, he was in (he’s a big Beatles fan). And since Liverpool is only about 30 miles from Manchester, it looked like it would fit into the plan. So we drove from Chester, found our way to the waterfront area (our bridge was out, very confusing to Garmin), and went for lunch at the Baltic Fleet pub.

The Baltic Fleet pub was right across the street from the Albert Docks, our starting point for the tour. It is an actual brewpub, proudly serving Wapping beers. Recommended by the Good Beer Guide (of course, most of the places I went were in the book), I ordered a Ploughman’s Lunch as a sort of last meal (I did have fish and chips for dinner, but I liked this better) in the UK. The beers were excellent; I had the Taldzy Dark and their Stout. Both were well done and accompanied my cheddar and chutney quite well. The place got slammed, and we had to get to our tour.

We got on the Magical Mystery Tour to see some of the significant places in Beatles history. It was fun to be around so many enthusiasts (normally the folks I’m around love beer and football) as we saw the early homes of the band members. We saw Penny Lane and Strawberry Field, which had several call-outs from Beatles songs, and George Harrison’s house (the quiet Beatle) as well as Paul McCartney’s place. We got to hear about how the band met, their changes in fate that gave them their opportunity, and stories behind individual songs and albums. Most of all, it was neat to see Len’s reaction when he saw the places he had heard and read about. We ended up at the recreation of the Cavern Club, one of the early places that gave the Beatles their start. It was rather loud inside, and the choice of beer was limited, so we walked over to the Ship and Mitre.

This was another recommended spot in Liverpool, and it didn’t disappoint. We had the Brampton Impy Dark and the Titanic Dark Mild and reminisced about our travels. To be honest, I was getting tired and was ready to get to the hotel. So we drove to Manchester and had dinner in the hotel (the fish and chips that I had mentioned earlier). We flew back the next day (plane was delayed 5 hours, and not a spare plane in sight), and then I drove back on Monday. Monday night, my appendix decided that it had too much English beer and I had to have it removed. It wasn’t the end of the trip that I had hoped for, but it was certainly memorable. I look forward to going back someday. - 5205

"Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." - Winston Churchill