On this day in 1894, the Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened by Queen Victoria; linking a city that's 40 miles inland, with the Atlantic Ocean.

And a map of the canal's route, taken from Wikipedia.

So fuck

Imagine how hard all those men worked, just because Vicky wanted seamen 40 miles deep inside her country.

dismissive, mocking laugh

>>2041037 (OP)
get a nice view of manchester from the top of barton bridge, especially at night

>>2041037 (OP)
This is neat. I've often examined the route on Google sat view. Is there any recreational use permitted on it? I can see lots of boating and canoeing opportunities.

>>2041364
Website indicates not really, but hardly surprising as it's still a working canal. You've got the Bridgewater canal which runs from Runcorn, though, so would be near enough as makes no difference. Feeds into the Cheshire Ring network too, I believe.

>>2043056
There's some at the Manchester end, but that's just the short bit between Salford Quays and the Manchester city dockland (which is all repurposed and gentrified now).

Ah shit, I used to live there, like 100m from that first bridge. Fucking thing, they would always pass ships, barges and other shit during rush hour, imagine getting stuck for extra 20 mins, 150 meters from home, fuck

>>2041037 (OP)
How does it turn around? does it just go in reverse, is there some artificial port in Manchester? Why would a single canal help with shipping if only one ship can go down the canal and blocks the way for the rest.