Post It from Southport Caravan Club campsite, Lancashire, England. Friday 22nd April, 2016.

So as not to arrive before the earliest 1200 stipulated time at Southport we took a leisurely drive along the coast road from Blackpool via St. Annes and stopping off at Lytham to have a walk along the seafront where we could see Southport on the opposite side of the river Ribble. You could see these two places were for the wealthier property owners and they had an air of old fashioned Victorian elegance about them. The large expanse of green alongside the shoreline was manicured and the mainly elderly people in the area were enjoying the fine weather.

We drove through Preston and headed off towards Southport and passing through Hutton where I once spent an intense 10 weeks training in 1987 to the day, just after our son was born. I remembered Madonna’s La Isla Bonita was getting lots of air time as I traversed the Pennines from one side of the country to the other each weekend. Fond memories returned of the course I was doing but awful choice of time leaving Sharon at home alone with a new baby. I am sure work would not have made me go nowadays.

We drove along Marine Drive in Southport to the campsite so had the chance to see all the shoreline and wetlands which were frequented by the ‘Twitchers’. I almost turned into Victoria Park upon seeing a camping sign and campers in the distance but at last minute saw it was for the Caravan & Camping Club. I later discovered it was a rally there and not an actual site, despite the sign suggesting otherwise. Upon arrival at the Club site we could see it was going to be busy and despite it being mid-week in April there were lots of campers here. At the weekend it was going to be full. After a recommendation from a chap at Blackpool we chose to set up on the newly developed part of the site and whilst it was well laid out with all new hard standing pitches it was a bit clinical and I learned that there were restrictions on planting due to the local environment so there were no hedging’s at all between any pitches. This just spoiled it a little but since we were only here for 3 nights it did not really impact upon us.

The main purpose of stopping here was the easy access by train into Liverpool. We had a 15 minute walk to the closer Birkdale Train station and for a £5 day ticket caught any of the trains after 0930 that left Southport every 15 minutes each way. The 41 minute journey was soon over and we surfaced out of Liverpool’s Central train station into the busy heart of the city. I have spent a number of occasions in Liverpool, the first one arriving there in a ship after a 9 month voyage in 1977, I think, when Sharon came to meet me dock! The first and only time she had done that.

I had also been here a number of times since then with work but had not ever visited the city for pleasure. This visit was mainly to attend the Maritime museum on Albert Dock which I hoped contained lots of memorabilia from my sailing days and connections with the White Star Line and other shipping companies that in my day were all a part of the Furness Withy Group.

Whilst there was lots of reference to the old parts of the shipping companies I was interested in there were only a couple of small articles, with items, relating to vessels I had actually boarded. Many of the ships design scale models bore names I recognised from my own days at sea but they were the original vessels, not the ones who bore the same name after their predecessors had hit the scrap yards. There was a Titanic exhibition and one for the sinking of the Lousitania as well as a very good Slavery exhibition. Despite the very slight disappointment at not being more things there I could personally relate to the visit was very good and worthwhile.

From the restored docklands you had good views of the Liver Building with the famous birds sat on the very top and the Cunard House in the foreground. Whilst sat on the side of the River Mersey we saw the famous ferry plying its way back and forth to Birkenhead with a bronze statue of Billy Fury at the head of the dock behind us.

Our day in Liverpool was very enjoyable and true to form all the Liverpudlians we engaged with were very friendly and welcoming. Sharon had her photo taken outside the Cavern Club and we visited the Cathedrals. The Catholic one was very different, I think the locals call it the wigwam, which you can see why from the photo. Sorry but a mishap meant that I had to rely on my phone to get the photos now and most of the images I took were too large to directly upload to the Club web site.

On the Friday we spent the day in Southport. What a lovely town it was too. Very Victorian with its Lord Street where elegant shops would have once displayed their wares under a glass roofed walkway canopy. Today there were many charity shops, restaurants and jewellers but you could easily see what it will have been like in its hay day. The Victoria Park, adjacent the camp site extended into further lawned botanical gardens and lakes which no doubt will be full of visitors in the season. Today the majority of the visitors were of the older generation and they were well catered for with many seats and tea rooms to rest at, one which served out tea in fine bone china cups and a very large tea pot that let Sharon enjoy 3 of the cups to my 2!

As well as the site being full I saw that there were many motorhomes present and I have never seen so many Swift ones, particularly Bessacarr models, camped in one place before. They were probably the most popular make present, which made me smile because we like ours too. The weather was excellent, two very sunny days and a third pretty good dry one for the time of year so all in all a good time was had and Sharon enjoyed lots of shopping too. I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get to Chester tomorrow with easy access to that designer outlet!

Once again I cannot add the map location, come Caravan Clubplease get this software sorted.

Regards, Roy