The Goodest Boy!

We had a bit of a lie in this morning. We didn't have to be anywhere until 1030 (and that was only a 10 minute walk away).

We headed out on our walking tour of Manchester today. We were supposed to meet our guide in St Peters Square at 1030 with the instruction to "look out for the bright orange lanyard or scarf." Usually the guide is there about 10 mins early to check names off of the people in the group. It was now 1029 and the only bright orange that was visible in the square was that of high-vis vests. Eventually we turn around and see a  scruffy-ish late teen/early 20's looking guy ambling across the square wearing a bright orange jacket. He looked as though he had rolled out of bed not 10 mins earlier.

Anyway, he took us on our tour and showed us some of the cool things in the city. He took us to Canal St and explained how Gay Village came about, he took us to the Northern Quarter and showed us the cool cafe areas and also to the Printworks.  The Printworks is where the printing house of a large newspaper until its closure in the 1980's. After the printing house closed in 1985 it lay derelict for over a decade. The buildings fate changed in 1996 after the 1996 Manchester bombing. This spurred the city to redevelop the city centre, including the Printworks site as part of the Exchange Square redevelopment. The Printworks is now an entertainment hub, reopening in 2000 with clubs, eateries, and eventually adding a gym, cinema and leisure attractions.  He also took us past the Manchester Cathedral and Chatham's Library. Chatham's Library was founded in 1653 and is the oldest public library in the English-speaking world.

After our tour we had a quick lunch and then back to the hotel to drop some stuff off. From the hotel it was off to Piccadilly Station to head to Stockport to catch up with Claire's cousins Lauren and Dan. We also got to meet Laurens new puppy Chewie (a 4 month old golden retriever). We spent the afternoon walking around Lyme Park. Lyme Park is a 1400 acre estate and is on the edge of the Peak District. Lyme was once home to the Legh family and in its heyday was a great sporting estate.  It was in this estate near the reflecting lake that Mr Darcy met Miss Bennet in the BBC production of Price and Prejudice.

Chewie came on our walk with us this afternoon and was so well behaved. After our walk we headed to see the Marple Aqueduct (which is the tallest masonry-arch aqueduct in the UK). From here we headed to the pub for dinner and to meet up with Lauren's boyfriend Luke (who had been playing soccer earlier in the day). The best thing about pubs over here is that dogs are allowed in most of them.  This meant that Chewie also got to come to dinner with us. Again, he was so well behaved, just hung out under the table and went to sleep as he was exhausted from his big walk this arvo.

After dinner we were looking into trains to head back to the city centre. This was not going to happen as there was obviously something happening on the line.  Lauren took us to the train station to see if we could get any answers as to what was happening (as the apps were saying that trains may not run again until 11pm and it was only 830pm). When we got to the train station there was a train there and we asked the conductor what was happening. He was a bit cagey and just said that this train was not leaving yet as they had no platform to arrive to in Manchester.  So Lauren kindly drove us back into the city. Thanks again Lauren!

Back into the hotel and we are settled in for the evening after a beautiful day with beautiful people and of course Chewie!