Cheshire Ring canal walk, stage 4, Sunday 23 January
Hyde to Sale
On
arriving at Hyde, I was delighted to see that our usual crew of Tracy,
Sue, Linda, Margaret and myself had been joined by Stevie B and Howard.
It was a still, cool day; ideal for canal walking.
We
set off along the Peak Forest and Ashton canals. Our first refreshment
stop was at Tracy’s gaffe in Fairfield, where we were treated to
homemade scones : very yummy with lashings of butter, jam and cream;
lots of calories, I know; but then there were plenty of miles to come to
walk off the effects. We walked through the Moravian community area to
get back to the canal. This enclave is like coming across a different
age amidst the urban sprawl of the east Manchester suburbs.
We
stopped for lunch in view of the hallowed grounds of the City of
Manchester stadium (although, I was not feeling so chipper after the
previous day’s City debacle at Aston Villa). We proceeded via a
subterranean interlude under Piccadilly, by way of Canal St, Castlefield
and on towards Trafford Park.
It
was about this time that I began to have concerns as to how we could
get Linda and her bike back home. Why did Linda have her bike with her??
That’s another story……. Sure enough our attempts at Stretford to
smuggle Linda’s bike on to the tram without the driver noticing failed
lamentably. We had to detrain back on to the platform whilst the tram
(and Howard) disappeared towards Manchester……..
After
hasty deliberations, it was agreed that myself and Linda would carry on
along the canal to Navigation Rd, where we would be able to catch a
‘proper’ train, whilst the others returned on the next tram.
Left
on the canal, we decided it was high time for a pub stop, and called in
at The Bridge Inn at Sale; most welcome. As usual we stayed longer than
planned and we then had the obligatory dash to the station just in time
to catch our train back.
It was a splendid, enjoyable day of contrasting scenery and thanks to all who came along.
John H
