We were sorry to see Tim and Mike depart at 9.00am this morning.
They gave us the Royal wave as they were driven off in their chauffeur driven limousine
Then they were gone
Lawrence and I then meandered off into Manchester city to, primarily find an EE phone shop - ran out of data allowance thanks to this blog and with no internet access couldn't figure out how to get more, and to have a look at some of the more notable buildings as we went.
EE shop found, battle with staff concluded and while not triumphant with success we were very relived to have won the day, we wandered in the general direction of the Museum of Science and Industry. Lawrence spent a very happy few hours looking at some of the exhibits. Did you know that around the turn of last century the North (Yorkshire, Lancashire etc) produced over 70% of the worlds cotton cloth. No wonder mills like Saltaire were so huge.
This steam engine was in use in a textile mill for 100 years
This beam engine (behind the brick pillar) was made around 1820 and finished its working life in 1954 at Haydock Colliery in Lancashire!
After L. Started to glaze over (as you have surmised, I started a lot earlier - there is only so much interest a girl can summon when being shown, for example, the difference between a horizontal and a vertical steam engine) we found our way back to the Quay. We had another very late lunch - this is getting to be a habit - and discussed where to next as we have the choice of two routes out of Manchester.
After getting back to AL I lost no time in spreading ourselves out again and have turned Tim and Mikes bedroom into my dressing room, which it will remain for the next few weeks unti they join us again for the final leg of our Narrowboat journey.
Lawrence is now gaining some much needed sleep. I am on engine duty. We need to run the engine for a few hours each day whether cruising or not, to charge the batteries and heat the water.
Castlefield Quay might be a safe mooring and boater friendly, but I don't think the City Council or whoever took the average age of narrow boaters into account when they turned the buildings facing this arm of the canal into bars, pubs, restaurants and a party venue. The competing doof doof music went on until 3.00am and especially as Manchester won the soccer game yesterday, there were loads of happy and harmless but noisy revellers last night.
As I finish this the bar across the canal is now playing Tina Turner - far more pleasing to the ears of old farts.
We
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