Bees, Graffiti and Art.

Continuing with our narrowboat adventures we sailed through Timperley and Sale, where the trams run parallel to the canal, and turned right at Waters Meeting to head towards Manchester city centre.

Mr P and I remember the Kraft factory that used to stand next to the canal here. It was grim. There were tangles of pipes that dripped or whooshed steam into the air (at least I hope it was steam) and the area smelled horrible. An oily smell but slightly fishy too – a bit like cod liver oil, but strangely not at all cheesy. It was definitely enough to put you off eating Kraft cheese…. or any Kraft product for that matter. Thankfully it is no longer there and it’s place is filled with some smart, new, pale grey coloured warehouse.

Along the way there were some amazing examples of graffiti art. I fully consider this art as the artist must spend time designing it at home, doing sketches and considering how they are going to build up the layers of colour. they also have an in depth knowledge of their medium and how it works. You can’t just rock up with a few cans of spray paint and create something like this. Thought and effort and creative decisions have gone into it…. which makes it art.

I love the colours and shapes used and I love the scale of it. I’m fairly creative but I wish I had those skills.

Further on we found our first Manchester bees. I particularly like the man on the left who is pulling back the surface layer to reveal the bees working away beneath.

Beetham Tower and start of the Rochdale Canal.

Beetham Tower from our moorings.

Next impressive view was the Beetham Tower, Manchester’s most recent landmark, before we arrived in Castlefield and our moorings for the night. I was especially pleased with the photo because I managed to catch the whole of it’s reflection in the water! Below the tower and under the bridge is Dukes Lock. This is the start of the Rochdale Canal which famously goes along Canal Street in Manchester and is right next to Dukes 92 – a bar well known for serving cheese and pate platters and named after the lock.

We decide it was time for a break from the confines of the boat and the cabin fever which seems to affect Thing 2 the most (I think it’s a lack of the opportunity to play football) and decided on a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry. On the way we spotted the first of the Bees In The City. This is a public art event that is running until near the end of September where you can follow a trail of individually decorated bee sculptures around the city…. a bit like the cows or elephants that have been done in other cities in the past.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the museum and our break from the boat and were ready to continue our journey out of the city centre…. but I’ll save that for another post.