Phew! That was Close.

“The Wheel” in Manchester City Centre.

While checking our emails etc this afternoon we found several notices from Waterscape advising us of any problems on the waterways. The one that caught our attention was one for the Rochdale Canal which stated

“That due to a collapsed wall caused by fire in a mill building between locks 76 & 77 the canal and towpath will be closed until further notice with a review on Monday”

Boy are we glad we are through and off that section of the canal as of yesterday afternoon.  Here is a link to the news on the BBC from Paul.

A glazed tile frontage on Langley building in Manchester. Note the Welsh dragon on the top recess.

A cool but very sunny day was the catalyst for a trip on Manchester’s “The Wheel”, the equivalent of  The London Eye. The view at the top was magnificent although the wheel does travel a wee bit too fast not giving you much time to search the horizon or focus on a particular view. Although we did get a bonus in that we were told we would get 3 revolutions of the wheel when in fact we got 4 before alighting.

Views across Manchester and the Pennines from “The Wheel”. The white posts in the distance are a wind turbine farm.  The Printworks as seen from “The Wheel” in the centre of Manchester. Fountain in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester.

After some shopping and sight seeing it was time to head back to the boat before it got too cold with the sun disappearing behind the tall buildings and the home time rush. Tomorrow morning we head down the final nine locks on the Rochdale Canal down onto the Bridgewater Canal.