Rochdale Canal

We are in Manchester to help our friend Sheila bury her mother tomorrow. It is a very sad occasion. Her lovely mum used to join us whenever we had our wonderfully drunken annual get togethers and I am sure she wondered about her daughter's friends.

We came down today because we wanted to make sure to get there on time. We travelled through Derbyshire and the Peak district which was absolutely beautiful, had a really good lunch in a roadside pub and got to Manchester early evening. This gave us the opportunity to explore the Manchester canals. Apart from the fact that it was freezing, we had a lovely walk and marvelled at all the fantastic Victorian buildings. The British canals are a wonder of engineering. One of these days we shall have a trip on a real narrow boat.
We had trouble finding a quiet pub but with the help of some locals we found an interesting place where we were able to get a drink and talk to each other at the same time. The town was not exactly heaving but it had been difficult to find a place where you could get a decent drink and hear a conversation.
We got frozen again during the very short walk back to our hotel.