Manchester; Monday, 12 November, 2012

Waking up to a typical Mancunian morning with the rain beating down on the window, I had a fortifying breakfast, checked out of the hotel and headed out into the weather.

A very short, but wet, walk to the tram stop and out, again, to MediacityUK to visit the attractions in Salford Quays. First stop was the Imperial War Museum North and then after lunch there into The Lowry to see the exhibition and paintings of Salford’s most famous son.

From The Lowry I caught the bus back into the city centre and out to the Manchester Museum located in the middle of the university. It’s like a mini version of the British Library has crashed into a mini version of the Natural History museum with dinosaurs, mummies and a whole host of other artefacts.

I had intended on also visiting the city gallery, but I spent so long in the museum that by the time I went to leave they were already closing, so instead I had a quick bit to eat to fortify myself for the flight, picked up my luggage and headed into the Monday evening Manchester evening rush-hour.

In the end it was pretty much as awful as a London one, with every train delayed, nothing matching up to the indicator boards and complete confusion. Eventually a train arrived showing it was going to the airport (despite the platform indicator saying it was heading to Middlesbrough) so I risked it and got on.

20 minutes later I disembarked, thankfully, at the airport, rather than half way to Yorkshire, checked in and headed to the departures lounge.