Manchester – Dog Poo Walk
MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE, CASTLEFIELD, MEDIA CITY, NORTHERN QUARTER
Distance: 8 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Light rain
Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Alastair Cairns, Andy Blease, Dean Taylor, Chris Owens, Cliff Worthington, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams, Mark Enright, Dave Willetts, Martin Evans.
Apologies: Alan Hart (in transit from Whitby), Mike Barrett (in transit from Costa Rica), Julian Ross (covid) George Dearsley (Turkey), Jock Rooney (plumbing problems), Kieran Rooney.
Leader: Cunliffe Diarist: Cairns
Starting point: Manchester Piccadilly Station
Starting time: 10am. Finishing time: 4.40pm
Plans for the long awaited murder mystery walk were scuppered when Julian Ross reported he had succumbed to the dreaded corona virus. It is in such times people’s qualities come to the fore and so it was with Tom Cunliffe who stepped forward to lead our band of wanderers on a tour using the less trodden paths of Manchester taking in its canals, open spaces, and university buildings, not to mention 5 public houses and the world famous Kabana curry shop.
After assembling by the “Victory over Blindness” memorial at Piccadilly station we made our way down the station approach turning right into Lena Street, left into Dale Street and down some steps leading us to the canal and lock 85. It was at this point on a previous murder mystery walk Julian pointed out a security camera and described how this was once linked to a loudspeaker system which would warn homosexuals who had ventured down to the canal for sex to bugger off (no pun intended). It was noticed both camera and loudspeaker had been removed which we must put down to the more liberal attitudes displayed by Greater Manchester Police in these times.
Emerging from the canal side we walked into Canal Street, which is part of the Gay Village, from here we turned left into Sackville Gardens behind what was Central Grammar School for Boys (Tom’s alma mater). The gardens are home to a statue dedicated to Alan Turing a mathematician and computer scientist who after his work for the British Intelligence Service was based at the University of Manchester. Turing’s time at Bletchley Park during the second world war where his contribution led to the breaking of the German enigma cipher machine but despite his remarkable achievements, as a gay man Turing was prosecuted for gross indecency in1952, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK. An inquest concluded his death from cyanide poisoning two years later was suicide. After a long fought campaign, Turing was posthumously pardoned by HM The Queen in 2013.
Crossing Sackville Street we made a brief visit to the UMIST building and, while we were able to enter the facility we were, on this occasion unable to access the examination hall to view the magnificent stained glass windows. Not to be discouraged by this setback Chris decided to see if access to the hall could be gained from another direction. it turned out his efforts were in vain as he got lost and was eventually escorted from the building by a couple of cleaners who found him poking around their janitorial supplies!
Chris caught up with us at the Vimto monument which was constructed in memory of Noel Nichols a herbalist who brewed the first barrel of this Manchester classic in a small terrace house on Granby Row where the monument is sited. From here we headed back to Princess Street and the canal. As we passed lock 98 Tom recalled how Julian described how a man who had jumped into the canal and tried to swim to the other side died of hypothermia. There were insinuations that he had been engaged in lewd acts with another man and as recorded in Harty’s original walk diary “It was unclear if the man was stiff when he entered the water, but he certainly was when they dragged him out”.
We passed lock 91 where the Bridgewater Canal becomes the Rochdale Canal and entered Catalan Square. Passing Barca, the restaurant once owned by that famous red nose and singer Mick Hucknall we crossed a footbridge and walked down to the canal through Castlefield. Castlefield is named after the Roman fort that once stood here. The railway viaducts chopped up the Roman site, but the Victorian engineers and architects acknowledged the existence of the Roman heritage by embellishing their viaducts with castles.
At this point we should have left the canal to follow the river Irwell back towards Spinningfields but for a reason (that soon became clear) Chris decided we should push on as there would be an exit off the tow path before we reached Media City, actually this turned out not to be the case. Unbeknown to your diarist it turns out Chris is a devotee of the popular television programme “Celebrity Strictly Come Dancing” who by coincidence are putting on a performance at the Lowry Theatre, imagine the excitement Chris could not believe his luck, an ideal opportunity for him to purchase tickets for his good lady and himself. For some reason the Wanderers chose not to join Chris on his ballroom dancing activities and by catching the tram back to Deansgate were first through the doors of The Britons Protection for their lunchtime service where, your diarist and birthday boy bought each of our number a pint of their favoured tipple, the Brightside Mancunian Hoppy Blonde was deemed to be in excellent form albeit a little on the pricey side at £4.80 a pint.
From the BP we set off towards Piccadilly and on to the Northern Quarter for lunch at the Kabana. On arrival we were surprised to find Chris had beaten us to the curry shop, had finished his lunch and had installed himself at the Millstone on Thomas Street. Avoiding the temptation of joining Chris for a pint of John Willy Lees the wanderers queued at the Kabana and were rewarded with a good selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, all of which were reported as excellent.
After lunch we joined Chris at the Millstone before moving on to the Hare and Hounds (least expensive beer of the day at £2.90 for a pint of Holts) followed by visits to the Marble Arch and the Castle Hotel where pints of Marble Brewery Bitter and Dizzy Blonde were consumed before returning to Piccadilly Station for our trains home
Next week’s walk will start from will start from Sutton Hall at 0930 where Chris will lead us over Croker Hill stopping for refreshments at the Ryles Arms in Sutton.
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A selection of pictures by Alastair Cairns and Simon Williams.
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