The Trafford Centre.

 Friday 7th July 2023 at the Trafford Centre.

As we were moored outside "Kickback Coffee", that called for a coffee before breakfast as soon as they opened. That's R, blazing a trail to their door!!!

We spent a leisurly morning in Kickback talking to passing locals, many of whom were interested in MM. These four ladies, old friends who regularly meet at Kickback for a catch up, ended up coming on board for a quick tour and loved it. M had to stay behind to guard all their handbags!!

Eventually we tore ourselves away and continued north. This is "Waters Meeting" where the canal into central Manchester (and Old Trafford) goes off to the right but we continued to the left along the Bridgewater canal.

We moored outside the Trafford Centre to find the towpath lined with small children going out on a "litter pick". Later we saw them returning with a whole dumpster of full rubbish bags. Well done, kids! And it looked like they had fun in the process!

There are two parts to the Trafford Centre. Nearest the canal is the Trafford Palazzo, the more recent structure, which is a completely over the top Greco-Romanesque style extravaganza filled with statues, pillars, fountains and domes. We love it!

The central fountain features a large number of gold coloured ladies in various states of undress, along with a few dolphins for good measure (or maybe in the interests of good taste???).

Behind the Palazzo, connected by a walkway, is the Trafford Shopping Centre containing over 200 shops, 60 restaurants and a cinema complex. It was incredibly busy even on a Friday afternoon.

As we left, we looked back at the facade of the Palazzo across one small section of the many car parks that surround the centre. This is also our view from the canal!

Back at MM, we had a quiet evening and night, only slightly disturbed at 1o'clock in the morning by the sound of motorists doing tyre screeching "wheelies" in the car park outside the centre.

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 1.9 hours.

Trip: 83 miles, 53 locks and 49.9 hours.