Manchester was lovely. It was intended to be a few day stop over to get over jetlag and organise myself. Unfortunately whenever I found free WiFi around the city my phone was almost dead, and the WiFi system at the yha was down. So my time in Manchester was a little shorter than origionally intended.
I stayed at the YHA in Manchester in a quaint part of the city called Potato Wharf. It was gorgeous in a referbished industrial area sence. The YHA was by a canal, and almost surrounded by bridges of all kinds. Foot bridges over the canal, rail and metro bridges - it was a visual timeline of infrastructure.
My exit from Manchester could be called an embarissibg retreat. Having added food for the self catering kitchens (buying bulk is cheaper -of course), and not finding an outdoor shop to but a replacement clip for the hip strap on my pack which broke during the flights, I had used a mini carabina and a few knots to try and hold as much of the 20kg I was carrying, on my hips rather than my shoulders. Bending over to pick up my water bottle after buying my train ticket at Manchester Piccadilly ended up with me flat on my but and needing assistance to get up.
So my next task is to see what I can do about minimising weight.
