Back on the middle size canals.

 After our visit to the Imperial War Museum, North we headed back to the boat to get Helen's stuff as has stuff to do at home. Getting to Piccadilly on the tram we arrived to find her train was cancelled. However she caught the next available one that was a little earlier. No.1 daughter and I painted the town red before heading back to the boat. We were up early.

There had obviously been rain in the hinterlands as the water was brown in colour and with a bit of debris. The Salford Quays bye laws say that you are only allowed 72 hours in their waters. However speaking to Neal, the Water Warden, said that they aren't really that bothered until they get a lot more boats visiting them. They don't work at Pomona lock on Sunday it seems, so we had to go up on Saturday morning otherwise we would have been over the time limit. We were off just before 0730 to be there for 0800.

You get a much better view of Manchester United's Old Trafford from the docks/river than from the canal. It looks like the tram extension is going to go between the docks and the canal and behind the IWM, North.

Neal, the Water Warden, told us that there is this floating pontoon available for extra moorings above the two near central bay but that it isn't very well maintained.

I'm not sure what this little concrete Island was, may be a mooring or breasting dolphin for ships, but it has been taken over by the gnomes!

I'm not sure why the bridge is painted in red and white!

We couldn't get a very good photo of this 'sculpture' of a giant hook and chain but I loved the idea. It is made of steel and is 18m high and called 'Skyhooks'. There is another one at Wharf End and was commissioned in 1995 as part of the regeneration of the area and it was designed by Brian Fell.

There is still plenty of land for regeneration around the old angled Pomona Docks. I remember studying these docks when at school.

We saw the lock been emptied so knew we were there at the right time. There were three there helping out so we didn't need to get off the boat at all.

By the lock, under the bridge was some decent graffiti that amazingly hadn't been defaced. We didn't need ropes going up and we were soon penning out into the Bridgewater canal.

The bee symbol seems to have become the emblem for Manchester since the Manchester Arena bombings and appears everywhere, along with the We MCR logo. It was first introduced during the Industrial Revolution for obvious reasons (hard working, hive of industry etc.) HMS Manchester adopted the bee and it is in their crest but not the official Manchester Coat of Arms. Ofcourse Boddington's Brewery have also adopted it too.

As we were so early we decided to head down the basin towards Liverpool Road to see if there was anybody on the water. There wasn't so we turned and hooked up the hose while I had a walk up the Castlefield Arm to see if there were any spaces that had our name on it.

There was room on the Coal Wharf that was also in the sun so we were moored up in a great spot all before 0930. It is handy for the tram and station, pubs and restaurants and the cinema. The early start and the really hot weather seemed to have tired us and we didn't really do much for the rest of the day, or more likely I can't remember what it was!