Walk: Manchester-Preston Sun 31 Mar 19

[Fragment of Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows]

<[Whistled] Chip chip. [Birds]>

<Kheeee/oooooo. [Traffic]>

I’m cold. I haven’t really been up at this time much. Or I have, just not as early.

<Hoo-hoo hoo, hoo-hoo hoo, hoo-hoo hoo.>

This is a misrepresentation. Traffic. Cars and roads are by far the most dominant sounds.
Most bird songs I can’t even hope to mimic well enough to give a rough idea of what it is.
Hard limits.

Rooftop gardens. Weathering steel.

<Coins rattle with each step.>

Won’t learn much with those lines.

A street that’s still not open. Stacked glass.

<Ffffff/k’rrk’rrk’rr. simultaneously. [Van idling]>

<Eeep eeep eeep eeep. [Reverse alarm]>

Shrouding wedding dress Hattifattener dusty plastic sheet wraps end of a fence.

Farmer Norton Car Park.

<Bwowf.>

Welcome to Green Grosvenor Park.

Drunk man in smart white collared shirt and black trousers walking home from Saturday
night.

Houstons Butchering.

<Woooo/rrrrr simultaneously. [Pigeon]>

<Fffkkk. [Weir]>

Bodily stuff then. I haven’t needed to think about my feet since I got the new walking
shoes in December. They’ve done around 1,500 km now. It’s not my feet. Since my first
hernia operation nearly 15 years ago I’ve had less warning of when I need to shit. That’s
mostly been manageable. But now with the new hernia I’m less able to shit until I’ve been
walking for an hour or so. Even taking walks home that take me as close as possible to
places with toilets - stations, pubs, supermarkets - I’ve shat myself three times in the last
week. And now again. So I need a supermarket with a toilet where I can get flushable
wipes, new underpants and maybe deodorant. That’ll be Bolton now. It’s frustrating and
embarrassing and uncomfortable. And while I’m looking for somewhere to shit I can’t
concentrate to take notes. I hate it.

What’s missing?

Quiet now. Drinkwater Park. Birds and water and very faint traffic.

<Field recording: walking through the park. Birdsong, flowing water getting louder, faint
traffic and wind sounds.>

Footpaths much drier than a week, two weeks ago. Next Red Rock Lane, then the
towpath.

DANGER!

Sludge lagoons

<[Whistled] Twip-twip. Followed by bubbling air against gums under tongue pressed
against teeth to imitate the rattle that follows. [Coal tit]>

‘Morning!’

<H’eeee. [Metal gate]>

Thickening greens, still fresh, filling gaps.

Greenhouses arched. Same shape as the bike shelter earlier on Adelphi Street I initially
took for a large homeless tent. A failure of capitalism accusing the city the council wants
to push out of sight.

<[Tongue and palate] Klok-klok klok-klok. [Horse]>

Bright resurfaced path. Loud birds.

Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. Large raptor circling. Woodland, canal, towpath,
valley and river. Blue sky with puffs of cloud.

<Fweh-fweh fweh-fweh fweh-fweh fweh-fweh. [Mallard wingbeats]>

<[Whistled] Sweh-sweh sweh-sweh sweh-sweh. [Bird]>

Ah, no. I’m way off, I mean two minutes.

<Tree creak/groan.>

Warm now for the last hour or two.

Cyclist changes gears. Three pass me. Hear Hall Lane ahead.

Butterfly flits and tumbles in front and turns off.

Shouts from football match.

Darcy Lever Cricket Club.

After three and a half hours back on roads. I think roads now the rest of the way.

Fred Dibnah’s house. When I worked for HSE* one of the older inspectors told me that in
the 1970’s many working steeplejacks disliked Dibnah because they felt he was
dangerous and gave a false impression of how they worked.

Loose balloon of a squatting Spiderman floats across the road.

I didn’t take any notes through a sequence of side roads and dead ends used to store
mobile fairground rides and the trucks that carry them. Broken parts. Chained dogs.
Roads completely blocked except to pedestrians by trailers, parked rides, vans, stacks of
parts. Very few people around though the sounds of work from time to time. This is all
from memory.

Mohammed Tanveer Akhtar / Independent / Astley Bridge

Hibbert Street Community Centre. Iron Church Beds & Furniture. Frame of a mosque
under construction. Fun Valley Kids Soft Play Centre. Gold Scissors Hot Towel Turkish
Shave. Open this Saturday from 10 am Lots of Bargains up to 50% off.

And the supermarket I need. On my route too. [Fragment of Madonna’s Like a Prayer.] 15
minutes. Start again clean and comfortable. Into the second half of the walk for some
time already.

Back O’ Th’ Lane.

One Emoticon on Each Chew.

Holcombe Moor and the Peel Tower way to my right.

Wilton 1 Quarry.

<Fff-fff fff-fff fff-fff. [Flock of pigeons/doves]>

Springs Reservoir.

Preston for about seven?

<[Whistled] Wip-wip. [Birds]>

Toppled trees. Bee swirls.

<Ku’weee’hooo. [Cars passing]>

Two pheasants walking in a field. Helicopter.

Field of pigs and piglets.

Belmont Bleaching & Dyeing Ltd.

Maria Square Belmont 1804.

Island in the middle of a reservoir noisy with gulls.

Fishing is not permitted here.

Heron flies the opposite way.

Pavement gone, pavement back. Test Sign.

Sign for Tockholes. Lapwings.

Pavement gone. Valley far ahead.

Once I finish this walk I’ll have traced, across four walks since September 2017, a route
from Kendal to Crewe. From Kendal to Lancaster; from Lancaster to Preston; today from
Preston to Manchester, or the same in reverse; and from Manchester to Crewe.
Somewhere around 200 km.

Pavement back. Sort of.

Stream at my right, field of sheep beyond. Bee making its way through a tree. Downhill
slope. Roads less stressful than I thought.

Abbey Village / Dive with care.

<Meehh meehh. [Lambs]>

Wet wipes come in handy for getting bird shit off my shoulder too.

‘Ta.’

A short hill. Blackbird crosses the road calling.

Union flag. Is it a Brexit thing?

[Fragment of Brexiters.]

Car on its roof in a farmyard. Smoke from a chopped-down tree burning.

My hernia needs a bench to rest.

And there at a corner exactly what I need. Nearby a large fly on a daffodil. Boat being
towed.

I’m right at a junction. It’s a little breezy, and colder when I’m not walking.

Read through the account so far.

Knitted poppies on war memorial. Hoghton Tower. Light aircraft.

Think I can see the city ahead.

Back, hours ago, by the Irwell when I needed a shit, a relatively new looking motorbike in
the river. I forgot to add it when I caught up on notes. Then remembered and forgot again.

South Ribble.

Narrow road. Low windows. Early evening dog walkers.

<Croak/snort that might be a horse or a bird, or something wooden creaking.>

[Breathy, emphasis on the last syllable] ‘Hiya.’

Outskirts of somewhere.

The Little Tan & Beauty Shop.

<Sssss. [Air or water sprayed under pressure]>

Pass under the M6. Fields. Warm evening sun. Birdsong. Collared Doves leap off the
hedge.

Dandelions, nettles, goose grass.

Greenhouses. Hilly graveyard behind Catholic church.

Magnolia blossom.

Man stood in the river Ribble fishing.

<Bee boop-boop. [WhatsApp message]>

Large gulls on a wall.

Walk by the river to parks and the station. Nine months since I was last here. And eight
years ago, friends, the band Womb played here. Sitting in the park before the gig.

<Hoo-hoo hoo, hoo-hoo hoo.>

Silver sun in split of clouds.

Beautiful old streets. Though I suspect expensive.

Our Lady of Victories Church.

Electric charge points for cars.

‘Hey!’ Waving.

You’re Entering A Shared Space.

Ticket and straight to the train.

Time jump.

<Eeeee. [Tram wheels squealing on track]>

‘This is a service to Altrincham. The next stop will be St Peter’s Square.’

Pink light illuminating the front of Manchester Central.

Change at Cornbrook. Past sunset but not yet dark. Clatter of skateboard on backpack
striking display board.

Circling home getting slowly closer.

‘Here Tony! Where are we going?’

—-

*Health and Safety Executive, Great Britain’s work-related health, safety and illness
regulator.