It doesn’t always rain in Manchester!

KevinToo, make a note!

In fact we’ve had a splendid weekend, weatherwise, in the city. The fine weather brought the Mancunians out in droves…

The Saturday evening sunshine had people out on the steps above the events area…

…and when the sun went down there was an impromptu performance by a group of fire jugglers.

Sunday morning dawned bright and cloudless, already warm by 9 o’clock.

I joined the other 39,999 runners at the start line of the Manchester 10k, getting off after the gun at around 10:45. I found the the latter half of the run hard work, we had a brisk headwind on the way out to Trafford, which didn’t seem to help much when we reversed direction to head back to the finish in Deansgate.
My time was the worst for the last three years, but to put it in perspective, it was my best finishing position for three years too. So I guess everyone else was struggling with the warm conditions too. My training through the late winter and spring has barely been above 10°, more often nearer zero, and I just wasn’t able to run hard in 25°.
It didn’t bother the Ethiopians however, Bakele and Dibaba romping home for the Men’s and Women’s titles respectively.

Getting back to the boat I was met by our visitors, Mags’ son George, grand-daughter Mel, grand-son Steven and his partner Anne-Marie and their two children Luke and Courtney. We had a good catch up (after I’d showered…) and they enjoyed a visit to MOSI while I unwound, then we sat in the sun for a while chatting before they had to leave for home. A good afternoon.

Knee aches and the humid night prevented comfortable sleeping, and I slept in this morning not waking till gone eight. I’m normally awake at half-six and up no later than seven.

We were still away by ten, though, out under the three railway bridges that cross the basins.

Leaving Potato Wharf



We swung onto the services to fill with water and empty a loo, then set off back down the Bridgewater Canal.

This lot will feel a little more confident now they’ve appointed a new manager.

Van Gaal appears to have a proven track record, and Giggs will be assistant manager.

Begging bowls out in Stretford

We stopped for a bit of shopping at Sale Bridge, pulling onto the rings just south of the bridge.

There’re banks on the high street, and there’s a handy Co-op on the opposite side of the canal.

Looking north from Sale Bridge, that’s us, nearest boat on the left.

I spotted these on the way up, but wasn’t quick enough with the camera. I was ready this time…

Mandarins at Marsland Road Bridge

Beyond Broadheath Bridge, on the offside, are three factories, all built at the same time judging by the architecture. The first and the third don’t give away any hints as to their original function,

but the middle one is unequivocally proud of it’s builder’s purpose.

The linotype process revolutionised volume printing in the late Victorian era. Before it’s introduction, individual letters had to be laboriously set into frames to reproduce the printed page as a mirror image. It was also prone to mistakes between similar looking letters. The phrase “mind your p’s and q’s” comes from the printing industry.
A linotype machine produced a complete line of text generated from a keyboard, which was cast in a reusable alloy. The process was quick and accurate, allowing far more type to be “set”, and therefore more information to be printed. It’s now been superseded by  offset lithography and computer typesetting.

We moored once again near Dunham Woodhouse Underbridge, on our own for a start.

Meg was pleased to see grass again!

She’s in there somewhere!

Mum bought the little ones to the food bank

Another boat pulled up a boat’s length in front of us mid-afternoon. Then, just half an hour ago, another has inserted himself between us. I wouldn’t mind if we were on an official mooring, but there’s half a mile of unoccupied towpath behind us!
Now all we can see is his back canopy. If he doesn’t clear off in the morning I’ll move back a boat’s length. We’re staying here till Wednesday.
Locks 0, miles 10½