The following blog comes with a warning: Don’t order yourself a Mohammad’s Chilli Doner Pizza the night before a walk.
T’was a Friday morn and my stomach was in bits. The train to Crewe was pulling into Winsford station as I was hastily pulling up my trousers. Cut and run.
From Winsford to Crewe and on to Manchester (plus a few bathroom breaks – Mohammad had absolutely doused that thing in chilli sauce), before meeting Brendan on the tram to today’s starting point.
Today’s T.W.A.T.S. adventure would take Brendan and I along the canals from the Etihad Campus (the home of my team) to Old Trafford (the home of Brendan’s team, even though he doesn’t like football anymore and also supports Barnsley FC), before finishing off in MediaCityUK – where we met as students at the University of Salford. Tots emosh.
As you’d expect for a day out in Manchester, the weather was pretty dull but (very bizarrely) dry. It was also pretty cold.
Here is the face of a man who is thinking “I hope there’s a toilet nearby…”
There wasn’t. The ones on campus were locked. So we headed across the Joe Mercer Way towards the Ashton Canal.
One feature of this canal path is the abundance of low bridges.
See, I told you.
Moderately tall folk must mind their heads. Brendan and I are not moderately tall so we were able to walk under most bridges without ducking.
A landmark of East Manchester.
Just like most urban trails, the Ashton Canal is rife with graffiti for you to enjoy.
Repping the Winsford Massiv.
Soon, we arrived in New Islington.
This is the apartment building known as ‘Chips’. I suppose cos it looks like three chips lying upon one another.
Some call this New Islington, some call it Ancoats, some call it Piccadilly Village.
A friend of Brendan and I used to live here in student accommodation. It’s much prettier than the student accommodation we had in Salford! I suppose however living so close to a canal has its drawbacks – particularly when you stumble home late at night pissed out of your mind…
Another drawback to living around here is the pavement. It’s pretty darn slippy! Much care is needed when you walk this part of the route. There are cobbled stones and smooth slabs, greasy AF when its damp.
Brendan and I both nearly ended up in the canal.
It is around here that the Ashton Canal ends, and joins the Rochdale Canal. It was also around here that we left the waterside; partly so we could walk by Piccadilly station but mostly so I could find a pub and a toilet.
After 20 minutes in The Green sports bar, we left, and I felt a lot better.
For most people, particularly those arriving from the south, this is the sight of Manchester. As Manchester is a northern city, it’s only fitting that you can immediately find a Gregg’s at Piccadilly.
Here’s Brendan Clayton’s Gregg’s review:
“Drier than a nun’s vagina. Not a good baguette. The driest Frenchy I’ve ever had in my mouth.”
I bet y’all want a Gregg’s now.
From Piccadilly we crossed the Manchester Curve bridge, to join the Rochdale Canal in a pretty famous part of town.
Almost immediately we took another, albeit short detour into Sackville Gardens. This is a park used for events such as Village People and Manchester Pride, and where you’ll find a man sitting on a bench.
The Alan Turing Memorial. A plinth at his feet reads:
It has been estimated that his wartime work helped shorten the conflict in Europe by two years and saved over 14 million lives.
We returned to Canal Street and continued our journey.
Ahhh, many times we have walked these bricks. It felt strange to be here without Andy Cox. He was with us in spirit.
At Princess Street we crossed over and joined the canal path.
We saw two unlikely friends.
The Rochdale Canal now takes you towards Castlefield.
As well as Manchester’s most famous tower, the Beetham (or the Hilton if you’re ignorant) Castlefield also boasts the Bridgewater Hall and the former legendary nightclub Hacienda.
Deansgate Locks is another part of town devoted to nightlife. I’d never been on this side of the water before, in which we found a saxophone.
The Rochdale Canal then takes you underneath the railway lines.
This is (according to Brendan) the most photographed part of Manchester, and we were lucky not to bump into other photographers.
I found some graffiti that perfectly sums up a lot of things…
Brexit… Donald Trump… my trip to Asia… Liverpool winning the Premier League… *shudders*
Enough of that horrible thought. Here’s Brendan on a bridge under a bridge.
And here he is on another bridge.
This is where the Rochdale Canal joins the Bridgewater Canal. I call this bridge the Drunk Bridge. It wobbles when you walk over it. I’m not even gonna Google its proper name – Drunk Bridge is good enough (it’s called Merchant’s Bridge).
If you’re ever in Manchester and don’t fancy walking from the Etihad to Old Trafford, the walk around Castlefield will suffice. There’s some great architecture, pretty scenery and lots of pubs. However, remember that this is an expensive part of town – so don’t be expecting cheap booze.
Keep walking along the Bridgewater Canal and you eventually leave Manchester and enter the Borough of Trafford.
To the right of this photo is Pomona Island – a once busy dockland that that regressed to nature. It’s a nice little area that can provide a bit of solitude from the bustle of Manchester – just a stone’s throw away.
With the sun already low in the sky, it nicely illuminated the city behind us
As you can see, Beetham Tower is now no longer the tallest building in Manchester – the under-construction Deansgate Square South Tower is 32m taller. There are a lot of towers being thrown up in this part of town over the coming years.
We heard a chug-chug-chugging noise ahead…
Brendan got very excited. We had been walking along the canals for two and a half hours and this was the first canal boat we’d seen in motion. Very shortly, a second barge floated by. Like buses, these.
Further along the Bridgewater Canal we stopped by at our second football stadium of the day. The so-called ‘Theatre of Dreams’.
Old Trafford, though not technically in Manchester, is home to England’s most successful team, Manchester United. Thus, there were a lot more tourists here than at the Etihad.
I think the guy in the middle is a little confused. Anyway, here’s Brendan with his beloved team.
We left all the foreign tourists and travelled on. We didn’t return to the Bridgewater, but instead headed for the Manchester Ship Canal. However, our path was blocked by a damn building site – a new metro line from Pomona to the Trafford Centre is currently under construction. Finally we found a cut-through at the Imperial War Museum, and were able to gaze upon MediaCityUK under pink skies.
Salford Quays is home to a number of media organisations including ITV and the BBC, and the University of Salford.
Shows produced in these parts include Match of the Day, BBC Breakfast, The Voice, Countdown and loads more. It’s a great place to come and loiter if you like a bit of celebrity spotting.
From the Plaza (on which I once appeared on The One Show), Brendan and I headed for THE local for media employees and Salford Uni students. It’s right next door to our old Uni building.
A welcome Dockyard Ale at The Dockyard. Memmmmorieeeeees…. They serve food here but it is expensive, and the burger that Brendan bought was a pitiful size. The chips are good though.
And thus our most urban ramble ever came to a close. T’was definitely our most colourful walk – from blue to red to pink, with a dash of rainbow thrown in the middle. A fitting final TWATS adventure for a while…
#VidOnTour 