What We Did On Our Holidays: Cornwall 2020-21

Operated by Cavern City Tours, the colourful Magical Mystery Tour bus is a common sight on my travels around south Liverpool, our paths crossing as it takes its latest passengers on another fun and fascinating two hour tour of the Beatles' Liverpool, which, according to their website, promises to visit all the places associated with John, Paul, George and Ringo as they grew up, met and formed the band that would take the pop world by storm. 

Well, all the places that would more than satisfy casual fans or cruise-ship tourists with a couple of hours to spend on land, and that's fair enough. But as regular readers of this blog will know, that's really only the tip of the iceberg. By my current estimation I think there's in excess of 800 places in and around the city and the Wirral with a Beatle connection. Try cramming all of those into two hours! 

The livery of the modern tour bus is of course based on the coach used by the Beatles in their 1967 television special Magical Mystery Tour which featured several scenes filmed in Cornwall, south-west England. As the pandemic has pretty much restricted any foreign travel for the last two years, Cornwall has also been the destination for my own family holidays. (I refuse to use the word 'staycation', and so should you. It will fall out of use soon with any luck).

Liverpool, Merseyside (top centre) and Newquay, Cornwall bottom left (Google Maps image)

Newquay, a town on Cornwall's north coast is one of the UK's most popular holiday destinations. I spent several summers there as a child with my family, and several more with my wife before we had children. Last year was our first time back since 2003. I love the place. It's full of happy memories, playing on the beach, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, bodyboarding, day trips to St. Ives, Land's End, the grey seal sanctuary and the Poldark mine, and in later years, drinking with friends on the beach. Away from Liverpool it's probably the place I feel most at home and certainly the most relaxed.

Newquay was (purely co-incidentally I promised my long-suffering wife) where the Beatles stayed for the three days in September 1967 during filming.  And so, in a dramatic break from the usual Beatles' Liverpool Locations I bring you:  

There Are Places I Remember Holiday Edition:

Cornwall Beatles Locations 1967 and 2020/1.