According to gps: trip odo 21.1 moving time 2h31m odo 21.07 max speed 20.2 moving avg 8.3
It's Good Friday! A long weekend off work (finally, March was very busy) and weather forecasts for decent sunshine and weather for the duration. Hurrah. So, out I went on the bike with Chris who normally just cycles into work as a commuter.
We didn't want to go too far so we just started from home - I cycled from home in Stretford over to Chris's in Chorlton. From there we joined the converted old railway line, Fallowfield Loop [What it used to look like] and followed it, gently uphill, round to Debdale Park. Upon getting there (and discovering that the water was very low in the lakes!) we cycled round the park itself and rejoined the Fallowfield loop route. Following that up to its end - at Fairfield - was quite interesting, along a filled in cutting (it's most odd seeing a railway bridge without the bridgey bit!), to the end by Fairfield station - where there still remains a lone overhead gantry and one remaining signal from when the line closed in 1988. Fascinating, if you're a geek like me; I find it really interesting looking along the closed railway lines that I cycle down for artefacts of the old railway.
Anyway. From there we headed north a little to join the Ashton canal in Openshaw. Went down that, past Sportcity (I've done this bit several times before, here, here and here for example) and joined up with the Rochdale canal. However, there was a slight diversion on the Ashton towpath just before Piccadilly so we redirected to the Rochdale a little earlier than normal - and found that a section of the Rochdale near Ancoats was drained! It was most odd, as there seemed to be no particular reason for it - just between two locks. It was quite interesting though to see the junk in the canal!
Following the somewhat cobbled bits of the towpath there, we went on-road through the city centre to Canal Street, whereupon we rejoined the towpath and followed it to Castlefield basin. We then pootled along the Bridgewater canal to Throstle Nest Bridge, near Manchester United, over lots of steep bridges over canal arms that would previously have had warehouses constructed over them; back on the roadway, we then just cycled along Trafford Wharf Road past the Imperial War Museum North and then home to Stretford via a route through the industry of Trafford Park (thankfully with quiet traffic as it's a bank holiday).
On the last leg of the journey, however, near the museum, my right leg began to twinge a bit. Fair enough, I thought, it's getting fed up of cycling. Nearly home though. However, on one of the roads in Trafford Park, it locked straight. I pedalled and then it just wouldn't bend again. Fortunately it was quiet and there was no traffic, and I dismounted (in an odd way) and sat on the pavement before it decided it didn't mind bending again. It was the muscles just above the knee on the front of my thigh that just wouldn't move. It didn't hurt (unless I tried to force my knee to flex) but wasn't going to bend in anything other than its own time. Once it was OK again I cycled back the remaining couple of miles; it's been fine (aside from a slight twinge 0.5m from home) since. Not sure what happened there but still!
So, all in all a good ride - 22 miles (hurrah) in good cycling weather (not too hot, but sunny) and I got to see a bit of Manchester. I think Chris, as a lot of people are, was surprised at the open areas that we found such as the parks, and the relative peace and calm of the canals plunging through the industrial heritage of the city. It's one of the reasons why I like old railway routes and the canals - it's fascinating to wonder what it would have been like one or two hundred years ago...