Welshpool to Liverpool

Our last day in Wales was simply to be a drive to Liverpool, nothing really planned along the way.

However, you can't let a day go by without visiting a castle. This time it was Whittington Castle.  It was right by the road we were travelling along, but there wasn't a real lot of it left, mainly the gate house.  Despite that, it was rather scenic.

We took a slight detour to visit the town of Whitchurch.  We had lunch here in 2007 and stayed in the town in 2011.  As we were so near, we had to have a quick visit.  We have photos of this bakery from each visit.

As we continued on our way we came across our first thatched house.

Once we reached Liverpool we said "Bye bye" to our little Suzuki Swift car and checked into our accommodation.  We stayed here last time as it is right next to the ferry terminal.

We had been wondering if the same doorman, wearing top hat and tails, was still there.  He had been a delight last time we visited, showing us the best place to park our sidecar, as the weather was blowing a gale.  As we walked through the door we were greeted with "Welcome back. Sir, I remember your hat".  How good is that?? Our last visit was seven years ago!!  I commented that Mick's hat is looking a little second hand these days, but Frank said it added to the "Patina". How nicely put.  Frank was as lovely as last time and it appears he is a much loved member of the staff.  He and Mick decided that they should swap hats.  I think Mick's hat suits Frank rather well.

We had a general wander around Liverpool in the afternoon.

We stumbled upon The Cavern Club.

Surprisingly, there is no cover charge to enter.

No, it wasn't Paul McCartney playing live.  That would have been too good to be true.

I found a statue of Cilla Black. (no, I'm not sniffing her arm pit.)

We saw the Liver Birds on the building just over the road from our hotel.

The Beetles came wandering down the road towards us.

Last time we were here the museum was still being built.  This time we had a little wander around.

A bonus was an exhibition about John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  We finished looking at it just as the museum was closing.

The following morning we started the next leg of our trip.  

We boarded the ferry "Manannan"  to travel to the Isle of Man once again.  The main reason for our trip over here - to attend the motorcycle racing on the Isle of Man.

A colourful "Ferry Crossed the Mersey" went by while we were waiting to sail.

There was also a small cruise ship docked in Liverpool.

Bye Liverpool.  It was nice visiting.

Now for the main purpose of our holiday.  Bring it on.