Friday 10 October 2014

Manchester again

The only time I'd ever been to Manchester until last autumn was in the early part of the new millennium. We were attending a performance being given by my Norwegian daughter-in-law-to-be while she was a dance student in Warrington. Now we've made three visits in 12 months. It's what you seem to do boating – as well as the allure of exploring new territory there are regular returns to convenient places. In Manchester's case, its convenience lies in its being a specific safe haven in bandit country (Castlefield basin), and the fact that the YHA hostel in this development has a very good launderette facility. So tonight here we are again. We have a nice half-size Candy washing machine on board, but towels and bedding are best done in a sizeable washer with a tumble-drier available.

So that was today's target. We woke to a beautiful morning just out of Wigan, with this as our breakfast-time view.


The forecast promised sunny intervals this morning but showers after noon, so I decided to leave the canopy up for travelling, following yesterday's successful experiment. In the event it was a waste of October tanning time. The sun shone nicely all the way to Leigh, where we had to take the canopy down anyway to get under a bridge.


My best beloved found herself concentrating appropriately on the job in hand while I sorted out the canopy as we travelled, with the sun as our companion for a good part of the day.


The rain finally arrived as we reached the more dreary parts of our journey – well, this is Manchester, after all. And now we're tied up looking at a rainbow and getting the wash load ready. Going to Manchester to visit the launderette – it just doesn't seem right somehow.

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