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Sixteen walkers met at the Navigation Hotel in Broadheath near Altrincham, where the management had given us an exemption from the three hour maximum parking restriction and allowed us use of the “facilities”. The towpath was only a minute’s walk over the bridge from the pub and we set off along it towards Sale. The weather was murky but dry and the towpath surface was level, pressed gravel. As we neared Sale Cruising Club, we saw rowers in single and two-man sculls being coached from the bank. Shortly after Sale Bridge we had a short drinks stop by a Sustrans “Portrait Bench”. The bench had iron portraits of: Dr. Charles White, co-founder of Manchester Royal Infirmary; Darren Campbell MBE, Olympic Gold Medal sprinter; and William “Bill” Bleasdale, founder member of the Watch House Cruising Club. Nearing Dane Road bridge, we saw the only moving canal boat of the day – “Bellatrix”. Its pilot was casually steering by nudging the tiller with his hip, while using his mobile phone. Wonder if you can get penalty points for that? We passed Bill Bleasdale’s Watch House Cruising Club which had knitted characters in one of its windows. There was a sculpture of a canal boat and fish at the approach to Dane Road bridge and soon after we stopped for a break opposite Longford Wharf. Modern apartments here looked out on the canal and some dancing rabbits adorned a garden shed. We had some light rain here but not for long. Setting off again we passed Stretford Marina and came to the junction with the Leigh Branch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Old Trafford football stadium soon came into view – I’d never realised how close it was to the canal before. As we passed an industrial area, the canal water became a peculiar avocado shade. The Environment Agency have evidently been investigating and suspect a “pollution incident”. Once we’d cleared the industrial units, the water returned to its normal colour. We soon came to the Throstle Nest Bridge where we had left the canal on our last walk. This time we left the canal and made our way to the Trafford Bar Metrolink Station. Unfortunately we couldn’t use our bus passes and had to contend with the ticket machine on the platform. Once we were all ticketed, we boarded the Altrincham tram and had a smooth ride, parallelling the canal, to the Navigation Road Station, where a shortwalk took us back to the pub for our usual meal and drinks. A most enjoyable day with the forecast heavy rain holding off until we were back on the road. Here’s to the next one!