The (Remarkable) Trafford Centre.

 Friday 8th July 2022 at The Trafford Centre.

We were a little sad to be leaving this lovely little marina with its great guys. Looking back, you can see the attractive houses overlooking the marina, that was once a colliery basin.

Soon after we left the marina, we passed the "Packet House" at Worsley, site of the Delph mine entrance and the cradle of the Duke of Bridgewater's original canal enterprise.

The Duke of Bridgewater's canal originally went over the river on an aqueduct, known as a "river in the sky". When the Manchester Ship Canal was created, the aqueduct was replaced by the Barton Swing Aqueduct that can be rotated to allow big ships to pass under.

Next to the swing aqueduct is a road bridge that can also be swung round to let ships through. These swing bridges are still opened on a regular basis and there are plans to establish a new container and distribution port in Manchester to help reduce traffic on the roads.

Yesterday, we had only bought a few basic provisions, so we needed more and were looking for a sizeable supermarket. A gap in the hedge beside the towpath looked as if it might lead somewhere. It did! It turned out to be the mighty Trafford Centre, literally 150 yards from the canal. What a surprise!

An even greater surprise was the architecture. Closest to us was the new building, built in 2008 and very much in the Romanesque style. Very grand indeed!

The interior is even more elaborate with hundreds of lifesized Greco-Roman statues of ladies in various stages of deshabillier (R approved!). The central dome and fountain was surrounded and surmounted by gold, naked and very wet ladies! The whole place was full of light and a very pleasant place to be. Even for M, who hates shopping. It is home to Seaworld and a huge Primark which has an entire two-storey wing to itself, but sadlythere was a lot of empty retail space.

Behind this building was the "old" Trafford Centre, which consists of a massive shopping centre, and is also very stylish. The parking information board outside indicated that there were only 4,596 car spaces available (only!!!)

Luckily, the Trafford Centre includes an M&S shop with a huge food hall, so we were able to purchase a "Few Bits" after a visit to Nero's for a coffee.

Given the proximity of this huge shopping centre, the mooring was very peaceful and quiet. Only a few dog walkers passed by all evening.

Today: 4 miles, 0 locks and 1.6 hours.

Trip: 236 miles, 161 locks and 128.6 hours.