MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL CRUISE PART 2

                                                                          Away We Go!!!

                                         Looking towards the Thelwall Viaduct on the M6

Everyone will have heard of the Thelwall Viaduct if they listen to the traffic and travel on the radio.  Notice the two separate carriageways

      A tribute on the pillar under the Viaduct to the last British Tommy of WW1, Harry Patch

The River Mersey starts at Stockport, meandering down through Warrington on its way and enters the ship canal via a weir which we'll see later. It stays in the canal for a short while then leaves at this point here as you can see

The Sun appears as we hit The Mersey and Ged snaps these silhouettes of ourselves at the front of the ferry

               Heading along The Mersey on the Manchester Ship Canal. It sounds so strange

                              Another high level bridge and the scenery when passing under it

                                                                  More canalside industry

                                      A disused and capped off railway bridge at Warburton

                                                             Even more canalside industry

                                                    Old Landing Stages now rotting away

                              The huge stone blocks were once used by vessels to unload coal

                                                               Whats going on here then?

                   Peel Ports operate a container shuttle service at this point on the canal

         A vessel called the Daisy Doardo ( below ) pushes the barge structure down the canal

                                        Irlam rail bridge. In the distance are the Irlam locks

The Weir (a low dam) at Irlam whereupon the Mersey enters the canal having meandered its way down from them thar hills in Stockport. Earlier, we saw where the Mersey left the canal to flow down towards Runcorn

                                                                     Entering Irlam lock

           One of the old and massive lock gates and its winding/opening/closing mechanism

                                                     Irlam lock water level upon entering it

                                                       And the water level upon departing

                                                                             Barton Lock

                                                                  And the rise in the water

     Barton Dock Bridge - otherwise known as the M60 - from a perspective not normally seen

Here is the new Rugby stadium being built for the Salford City Reds. Barton aerodrome with its light planes taking off is just to our left here

                                                                   And back too the M60

A double helping of swing bridges here and both used for different modes of transport. First we have the Barton Road swing bridge and then straight after it the Barton aquaduct swing bridge

                                                            Barton aquaduct swing bridge

                              Next up were piles of scrap metal bound for Santander in Spain

Hitting some more heavy industry now telling us our journey is coming to an end. Cargills who produce and process oils (there's one at Seaforth) can be seen on the right

The Centenary Bridge, a rising road bridge, counter balanced on 4 columns and 1 of only 4 in the country

Approaching Salford Quays with the Holiday Inn, Imperial War Museum, BBC - Media City and other 21st Century steel and glass up ahead

The Lock into Salford Quays. The Goodyear Airship was floating around and you can see it in the pic below

       The Millenium bridge rises. The modern swing bridge has already moved for us to pass

Ged's photo of the Grade II listed Rank Hovis mill with its wheat emblem. Notice the modern swing bridge is open with its walkway leading nowhere but into the dock at the moment

                                                        The shiny Quay Theatre complex

Also known as the Lowry Bridge the Millennium Bridge was built in 2000 to provide pedestrians with access between The Lowry Centre on the north bank of the Manchester Ship Canal

                                                       Its Auntie...Yes the BBC

                                                                    Across Salford Quays

                                    Canalside apartments. Can you spot the window cleaner?

                                                                  Can you see him now?

                                                 Old Trafford, home to Manchester United

It was 4.30pm now and a long day but we still had 2 hours to kill in Manchester. It seemed so strange to see our Daf in such surroundings. A mighty bit of Liverpool History 35 miles to the East

                                     Liverpool ferry and Manchester football ground

        The Royal Daffodil having a rest after serving us so well. The Airship is around again

                                                                 The Millennium Bridge

                                                              Crossing it on foot

                                                                        Media City area

                                           The Ferry docked beneath the Lowry outlet Mall

                                                                The Imperial War Museum

                       The Lowry Centre above and below is one of Ged's pics of it

                                                                  A last look at The Daff

              Darkness is starting to fall and at the media city/BBC area the lights are coming on

                                                                Harbour City at 6.30pm

After this we all piled onto the arriva buses waiting to take us along the M62 back to Liverpool and Seacombe. A really enjoyable day.....Try it sometime.