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We met at the Lowry Centre in Salford Quays at the end of the Manchester Ship Canal on a grey day. Setting off along the quay and Ontario Basin, we made our way across Trafford Road and into Ordsall Park. Here we had a good view of the picturesque Grade II listed St Clements Church. Leaving the park we soon returned to the bank of the Ship Canal via the graffiti adorned (or desecrated, depending on your tastes) Nine Acre Drive. An assortment of old bridges and modern high rises could be seen here, with a glimpse of the top of Manchester Cathedral and the curiously shaped Hilton Hotel tower. As we reached Trinity Way, we saw a couple of interesting buildings which turned out to be NCP car parks. One looked as though it had been made from giant egg boxes! The canal had now become the River Irwell and we crossed it via the old Irwell Street Bridge with Lion and Antelope crest at each end – the Coat of Arms of Manchester. We passed the old Granada Studios and stopped at the Science and Industry Museum where we had lunch. After lunch and a look at Stephenson’s Rocket, we carried on and passed the remains of a reconstructed Roman fort. We were soon passing under a criss cross of brick and iron bridges and viaducts and witnessed a group of fire eaters and jugglers practising their skills. We reached the Bridgewater Canal at the Castlefield Basin and Slate Wharf, with contrasting modern and old bridges. From here we followed the canal back towards our starting point. High rise blocks of apartments had been built here with views of high rise office buildings. The apartments then thinned out with the tram and railway tracks following the canal. We soon crossed the canal at the Throstle Nest Bridge and passed a couple of warehouses of the Liverpool Warehousing Co. (Nos 25 and 32). We were now walking parallel to the Ship Canal and Pomona Lock. Engineering work restricted the views here, but we soon left the Bridgewater and reached Salford Quays again, crossing via the Salford Quays Millenium Footbridge to complete our walk. The bridge was opened in 2000 and has a lift of eighteen metres to allow large boats to pass.
Thanks to Anne and David for organising the walk and thanks to David for brightening up the boring bits with his mellifluous and interesting historical talks.