Monday 28th of February saw us on a jaunt up to Liverpool on London Midland go anywhere for £10 day return ticket. Liverpool being the furthest they go apart from London and Annette doesn’t like London unless Jason Donavan is doing a show there.

The trip was quite pleasant taking just under an hour and a half and the train was clean and more or less on time. More importantly we arrived at High Level station three minutes before the train so there was no hanging around in the freezing cold.

It was my first sight seeing trip to Liverpool and I did not know what to expect other than glimpses of the town on various tv shows like James May’s mechano bridge episode and the Liver birds.  On the whole I have to say it was a city I would have like to have seen more of but, I guess that would have to be without Annette in tow. Lime street station was impressive enough and there was a tourist information desk near the exit with a helpful Scouse folding up town centre maps and handing out leaflets of the local atractions, not least of course the Beatles, one of Annette’s least favourite bands, they just don’t compare to Jason in talent!!!

Anyway, I was struck almost immediately by the grandeur of the general buildings, hardly surprising given Liverpool’s past importance as a port but, still an imposing site for all that.  I was also impressed with the freedom to get around this central part of the city, unlike Birmingham or even Wolverhampton, there was more than enough room to swing a cat, it was very reminiscent of Berlin in that aspect.

Having gone along for the ride as much as anything I did not hold out any great hopes of visiting anything worthwhile, expecting Annette to be on a shopping trip but, to my delight the only shop on the list was Habitat because she had inherited a £5 voucher for completing a survey and it was not to be wasted 🙂

Without any great plan we wandered down towards the Albert Docks as I knew she likes any form of boat/ship and had seen there was a maritime museum there as well.  Great news not only was the museum free but, it also contained the slavery museum and was on the to do list as it had started to drizzle and had free toilets 🙂

In the basement was a nice display of custom and excise history, including a mock up of what it would have been like for an orphan to have been shipped out to Australia below deck on a wooden ship.  Quite shocking to think they were not always orphans but, rather from families so poor they could not afford to feed them and it was their only hope of life.

Annette decided to use the lift to the next floor and taking the chance of getting some exercise I took the stairs. Typically there was no sign of her when I got to the next level so I naturally assumed she had gone straight to the top floor and was going to walk down. There then followed one of the best slapstick chases of modern times with both me and Annette searching the different levels culminating with me finally finding Annette sat waiting by the exit a good two hours later.  It did mean I got to have a good look round in peace and quiet. Well worth a visit and I identified a model gun I purchased at a toy fair several years ago thinking it was Ack Ack as a six pounder deck gun issued to merchant shipping in WW1 for protection against U-boats.

It was about lunchtime and there was nothing you might consider good value at the docks so we wandered back up towards the more central part of the town. To my horror a pub that looked like it would provide us with good old fashioned British fodder had a menu that Esthon Blumenthal would have struggled to make sense of and it was very pricey to boot.  Annette conceded defeat and we carried on back towards a Wetherspoons pub we passed on the way down.

As we turned the corner we found the Habitat shop and all was well with the world although it was a struggle to find something for £5 or less that was not a scented candle.  I saw a hard card two draw box unit that would have done for some scumbag 15mm French allies but it was under the wrong price tag and on closer inspection this was expected to fetch £20 or £10 a draw and only cardboard at that.  being a little old fashioned with prices for £20 I would at least have expected “Jonty” to have been eying it up and telling me it was Indian Rosewood, probably early 19th century and used originally for transporting rare spices by an East Indiaman.

Anyway we ended up close to a McD’s and settled for that as  Annette wanted to get back to the docks for a Duckie tour. Have to say the town area was still uncrowded and there were not a lot of stereotypical Scouse voices to be heard. Not a single “Calm down, clam down” to be heard anywhere.

What, I hear you ask is a Duckie tour? Well I had clocked it and dared not mention it as the very mention of it being a WW2 amphibious vehicle might have sent Annette scurrying back to Habitat. It is in fact the highlight of our brief stay in Liverpool, being a tour around the town and docks on a bright yellow DUKW. Our DUKW was number 2 of 4 and has each had a manufacturers registration number it had been traced back to the D-day landings but, sadly I could not find out on what beach.

If you happen to find yourself in Liverpool I can recommend this tour as excellent value even if it did cost almost as much as the journey up from Wolverhampton. Ask for the Dukw with “Tony”, a very funny and happy genuine Scouse who kept us entertained as we toured round and had a very good knowledge of the buildings and their history, including the “Streaky Bacon” building where the owners of the Titanic threw down names of survivors, to the angry crowds below, written on pieces of paper. Passing through the streets we did pick up a little of the Beatles history  as we passed John Lennon’s favourite pub and the place where he had his first wedding reception with Cynthia.

Surprisingly we had spent the best part of the day walking around and I don’t think we saw more than just the tip of the iceberg as we did not even cross the Mersey. Perhaps that is where all the Scouse live, maybe next time.

So we headed back to Lime Street and once again the train was waiting for us and we were off back Southwards after two minutes. Another good journey even with a 25 minute delay due to a slow freight train on the line ahead blocking the track. All in all a good day out and one I would like to have another blast at.  Like a mini Berlin break 🙂