GM Ringway Day 18

Stages - end of 19 and 20: Sale to St Peter's Square

Distance: 12.5 miles

Warm and clammy, turning hot and sweaty

Yesterday we were at the cricket at Old Trafford and stayed the night at the Premier Inn in Media City. We caught the tram from there to Sale to start the walk. Going through Worthington Park and the Priory Gardens, we crossed a footbridge over the many lanes of the M60 motorway and into Sale Water Park, where again we did not buy any ice-creams. The water park was made in the 1970s from the land excavated when they made the Mersey flood defenses and is now home to many species. We saw some cormorants, grey herons and moorhens, and met a lady who was very curious about what I was carrying in my bag and then expressed her surprise at my (lack of) skincare regime. 

From the park we rejoined the Bridgewater Canal towards the city centre, missing out the bits of the route that go up and back from the tram stop in Stretford. The canal passes by the busy freight terminals, the waterside tranquil with fish and dragonflies, and beside Old Trafford football stadium into Salford Quays and Media City.

We had a sit in the shade next to the Blue Peter garden and then walked on around the dock basins to Ordsall Park where the route wiggles around to take in the sights of the bowling green and exercise equipment. We had a look around Ordsall Hall and gardens, which are lovely - and not actually in the park but a few streets over in the housing estate. Then back along the canal into town.  We walked up the hot pavements on Liverpool Road by the Museum of Science and Industry and around Castlefield to see the Roman walls and through Spinningfields where it was quite nice and shady between the tall buildings. We caught up on some local gossip in Parsonage Park and went around the Medieval Quarter (the cathedral, the pubs in Sinclairs square and Cheethams Music School - where a little boy was living his best life with his feet in the water feature and a juice pouch) before walking back up Deansgate, via St Annes Square, to St Peters Square and the end of the walk.

We caught the tram, braving the busker for a few minutes longer to wait for a quieter tram.