The OTT Trafford Centre and Palazzo.

 Tuesday 29th July 2024 at the Trafford Centre.

The sunrise heralded the start of a beautiful hot, sunny day.

We walked a few hundred yards back along the towpath to visit the factory of "Precision Investment Castings" This is where M's son's business partner did his apprenticeship many years ago. The business is still there and thriving; and much larger than we expected. We took several pictures to send to him.

Back at Kickback Coffee Roasters, we had breakfast with their excellent coffee.

R's coffee not only tasted great but it was also a work of art! It was almost a shame to drink it - but he forced himself somehow!

At Stretford Marina, both boats stopped for water and so that Lazy Bee could empty their Elsan. As ever, the staff were very helpful and welcoming. M photographed Shelley photographing M photographing Shelley...

Just past "Waters Meeting", where the canal branches off into the centre of Manchester, is the huge Kelloggs factory. M remembered that she had forgotten to get Corn Flakes but we thought it unlikely that we would be able to buy some from the gate!

We moored up outside the Trafford Centre. There are two parts to it, the "Palazzo" is the first building and then behind that is the massive shopping centre.

The Palazzo is built in the Greco-Roman style and is so completely "over the top" with life sized statues, fountains, dolphins, frescos, all topped off with hundreds of red Lancashire roses. We love it1

The only big shop in the Palazzo is a massive Primark, which Shelley and Harley set off to explore, while we went on to the main shopping centre to get lunch.

Lunch turned out to be at Wagamama, where we had our favourite starters. Always such a treat!

Having acquired a "few bits" at M&S, we returned to MM via the Palazzo, where we met the Emperor Augustus who seemed to be hailing a taxi.

We also met this lady who had obviously had far too much to drink the night before and was regretting the last few glasses of wine as she rose in the morning in a state of undress that is very common amongst the very many life sized female statues.

The Trafford Centre is built on the site of the first overseas plant that Ford built in 1911 to make the Model T; over 300,000 were produced here. During the Second World War, Ford's plant built 34,000 Merlin aero engines at the site, ending up producing 900 every month.

The Trafford Centre is still a major employer in the area but it no longer manufactures anything. It just moves money from one pocket to another.

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 2.3 hours.

Trip: 126 miles, 71 locks and 65.5 hours.