Sunday in the Park with Rain?
Raindrops keep falling on my head?
And then there were none.
Too many possible titles to choose from for this ride but what the heck - at least another six cyclists were mad enough to venture out on a day when the forecast promised and delivered nothing but unremitting rain!
The former Visitor Centre near our car park has been re-opened as a cafe so those in need were able to grab a brew and a bacon butty pre-ride in the only short spell of dry weather we encountered all day! As we were girding up our loins to begin the ride, the rain began, slowly at first but somewhat ominously so there was a short hiatus while we re-arranged our sartorial appearance and a range of capes, over-trousers and waterproof jackets were donned. Odd that Roger chose not to put his brand new, best and extremely effective waterproof on at this stage. Still he did have the pleasure of changing into it as we tried to dry off over lunch in the Manchester YHA cafe!
We set off along the Mersey with ample evidence all around of just how high the waters had been during the recent floods before finding the easy route onto the Bridgewater Canal towpath, thanks to Bryan whose local knowledge proved invaluable more than once. The re-surfacing meant we could keep up a very good pace all the way to the Barton Aqueduct where we marvelled at the ingenuity of the Victorian Engineers who built two swing bridges across the Manchester Ship Canal both still in operation today, a road bridge and an even more impressive canal aqueduct consisting of a channel that could be sealed off at each end to form a 235 feet long and 18 feet wide tank, holding 800 tons of water, that swung round on its pivot, situated on an island in the middle of the Ship Canal.
More information can be found here.
Picking our way by road, pavement (don't tell anyone!), tow path and cycle route we found our way onto a former railway line heading north towards the East Lancs Road (The A580 for those lacking local knowledge) - thanks again Bryan. Unfortunately the good surface gave way to bog and we had to detour around to reach our goal where we found an accommodating cycle-path alongside the said main road which we took for a short while before venturing north again on another of Bryan's detours before descending to the Irwell Valley at HMP Forest Bank.
Unfortunately Roger got a puncture as we started our ride along the banks of the Irwell and as he mended it, we huddled with nowhere to shelter from the rain, marvelling, if that is the right word, at the evidence of the force and height of the floodwaters only recently receded. At one point half a tree had been uprooted and was lodged under one of the many footbridges which cross the river. Indeed, once we got going again the footbridges proved a very handy navigational aid - every time you came to one you crossed it, negotiating the rather unique semi-circular railings allowing bikes but preventing other vehicles from passing, and this way you cut off two enormous meanders. It was a bit off-putting to see the river flowing in the opposite direction to that which you expected as we drew closer to Salford. Here the river forms the boundary between Salford and Manchester which we needed to cross. The first attempt through an underpass under a main road only brought us to a brick wall and a dead end where a rather unsavoury looking hoodie was enjoying a drink! So in a rather hit and miss way (familiar to anyone who's been on my rides before) we picked our way through the traffic back onto the banks of the Irwell at the Lowry Hotel, crossed over into Manchester at the Mark Addy riverside pub, now closed and looking rather forlorn after its starring role in the news pictures of flooding in Manchester. For a change we tried the cafe at the YHA on Castlefield Basin, a fascinating place for the historian with its transport interchanges of canal, railway and now Metro, not to mention the Roman remains of the fort in the field which once stood here. Jack became the fist body to disappear, preferring a brisk return journey without a stop as he'd got very cold.
More information on the Castlefield Basin here.
Fortified with hot drinks and soup and super-heated chips the rest of us readied to set off but looked in dismay at the puddles and mud we'd left behind. If the YHA still expected you to do chores it was obvious what ours should have been. Still our half-hearted offer was turned down with a wan smile. As was my query about what a Jager-Bomb was - it's amazing what is on sale in a YHA nowadays!
Brian became the second body to disappear suddenly, preferring a four mile trip home to a fifteen mile ride. Undeterred we picked our way through the basin wondering at the Victrian engineers who built the railway viaducts, canal basins and warehouses which have now been so splendidly restored. Heading along the Bridgewater canal towpath, now fully re-surfaced thanks to Sustrans, we said our goodbyes to Bryan and Janet as they headed off back home and ploughed on past Old Trafford rising impressively above the canal and eventually back to Sale Water Park.
After quite a bit of drying off and changing clothes the remaining three of us set off home - and then there were none!
More of roger's photos can be viewed on Flickr here.
Rob Newton