Under Manchester and on the Canals

North West Ride under Manchester on the canals May 2012 Only 3 of us for what turned out to be a day of reasonable weather and a fascinating journey of discovery. Our bike ride under and through Manchester and the Great Manchester Run interweaved all day. We start off in South Manchester at the Chorlton Water park, already thronging with outdoor people including a gaggle of fungi hunters. After some very quiet back streets we emerge at Old Trafford. From this point on our fortunes and the 40,000 runners will cross as we zig zag around greater Manchester. We are below them, alongside them, and occasionally above them. The complex canal system of Manchester is at complete variance to the road system, so even if I think I have a plan of Manchester in my head Mark's route pops us up at the most unlikely places. Then we are alongside the Manchester Ship Canal and heading to Media City. ITV and BBC guns drawn across the Irwell. Back through the middle of Manchester and a bean pole of a trannie falls off her heels requiring a swift manoeuvre on my part, just a normal day in the gay quarter of Manchester. Gorton is a rough old part of Manchester but Mark's route gets us into the rural idyl of Vale Cottage pub for our lunch stop, and second beer break, thirsty work is Manchester. A sweep round East Manchester on the very rural Fallowfield Loop (national cycle network 6) gets us back to Chorlton around 20 miles later. Thanks again for the excellent route planning of Mark Taylor. If you knew how good are the events he organises you would all be along in droves.