Wednesday 24th July 2013

A day off the water and a chance to look round Manchester. Travel into the city centre was very easy with frequent trams and there are 3 free bus routes which take you round the centre. We had hoped to do a Red Bus tour but they only run on Saturdays. Having acquired a map at the Visitor Information Centre we set off for the Town Hall and who should we immediately meet but James Prescott Joule himself. He seemed to be having trouble picking up a signal on his iphone!

Onward to the John Rylands Library with its very impressive architecture to say nothing of the collections of books.

We saw our first gold post box dedicated to Philip Hindes a track cyclist.

After visiting the People's History Museum we took the tram out to Media City and the regenerated quays area. The BBC are now located out here but we were unable to book a tour and in any case I had some travelling to do.....

And Graham had his own problems!

Our main purpose of the Quays visit was to see the paintings and drawings in The Lowry. They were very impressive in quantity and quality. We were surprised to see how many paintings and drawings he had done.

We had a lovely Thai meal in the evening in Chinatown and it was a first for us in Britain as the restaurant didn't serve alcohol but you could bring your own. After we ordered the waitress directed Graham to the Sainsbury's round the corner and we then realised that lots of the diners had Sainsbury's bags! 

Tomorrow we tackle the notorious 'Rochdale Nine'. Will we survive?.............