Under Manchester

Please go large on this view from the back of the boat through a bridge to the next lock.

Fabulous last lesson today. All the students wanted help with pronunciation so I read some of my collection of poems to them and got them each to choose one to practise reading aloud. How was it that each chose a poem that highlighted their own particular pronunciation difficulties? They worked hard on meaning, we did one-to-one tutorials on pronunciation and after a lot of impressive work they performed. Superbly. I was so proud of their dedication and the great improvements they’ve made over the last twelve days.

And from the sublime to…
As we passed Old Trafford I pointed out the Manchester United stadium and, totally overawed, they climbed onto the boat roof with cameras and snapped and snapped.

I’ve lived and worked in Manchester and walked along its towpaths, but reaching the city by canal for the first time was brilliant. At Castlefield basin the students left to visit the city, John headed off to sort out onward travel, and I drove the boat along the Rochdale Canal to Ducie Street basin while Jürgen operated the locks. I had by far the easier option – the locks are heavy and leaky and some gates wouldn’t open unless we bumped them. The first of the flight of eight was the worst and five men abandoned their beers at the canalside pub to help. The 1.5 mile trip took us two hours.

We ate together, took photos of each other in front of the boat and said our farewells. The others are staying till the morning but I caught the 8pm train to Oxford. So much speed and so much distance was disconcerting and as I got home at midnight my body was still moving with the wash and sway of the boat.

What a brilliant time it’s been. How could I possibly have had any doubts when we started twelve days ago?

(Somewhere on the Bridgewater Canal to Castlefield Basin in Manchester. Rochdale Canal to Ducie Street Basin in Manchester.)