The rain held off for our walk to Salford Quays. We met up at Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop and made our way to the Bridgewater canal. This canal, opened in 1761, was the first great achievement of the canal age and it paved the way for the canal-mania of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was built by the Duke of Bridgewater to transport coal, from his mines in Worsley, to Manchester. This area of the canal in Castlefield has been regenerated and provides a lovely walk.

We made our way out of the city, crossing the canal at the wonderfully-named “Throstle Nest bridge”. From here, we dropped down on to the Manchester Ship canal. We paused briefly to look at what was left of Pomona docks and Shirley showed us some old photos of Pomona dock and Pomona Island, which was opened in 1845 and was at the heart of Manchester’s entertainment scene during the industrial revolution. It was home to the Royal Pomona Palace which, during its time, was the largest of its kind in the country, seating up to 30,000 people!

We walked along the ship canal, passing “Gnome Island”, which has been a home to Gnorman the gnome from 2017. Since then he has been joined by many of his gnome family and friends, including his wife, Gnorma. After wishing the gnome family well, we continued our walk up to Salford Quays and crossed the bridge into the Lowry Centre, where we enjoyed our lunch at the Harvester restaurant. I wonder what the gnomes had for their lunch. Perhaps they had the short ribs followed by strawberry short cake.