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Greater Manchester


Three ages of transport. A man just told me to watch out for the tree. I could hardly have missed it. My next stadium. They're coming thick and fast now. 9. Wigan Athletic... Wigan Athletic Staidum. That's what it's called in European competitions where it isn't allowed to b... People are just starting to arrive for tonight's game against Bury. Wigan Athletic still have an athletics stadium, next to the football stadium. By the canal. Wigan. Wigan Pier. These things are a nuisnace. A flight of locks. There's ground number 10. Winter Hill again. That collection of buildings should have all I need for the rest of the day: a bed, food, replacemen... I won't be needing that Premier Inn. I've just seen where Halfords is. It's further away that I expected. The Spirit of Sport, a piece of roundabout art. What's going on here? I didn't think there was a match on tonight. Oh, the coloured plastic part has come off my helmet.... I've stayed in some hotel rooms with interesting views before but nothing quite like this. I've been studying the schedules trying to plan which matches to watch so I knew that there wasn't a... Opened in 1997. Capacity 28723. Record attendance 28353. Before the match. Before the match. Inside the hotel. This is where I'll be having breakfast... ... and this is where I'll be having dinner, having bought a new jacket and lock cable but not a new... Ah, yes. I should have foreseen that it would be busy. 10. Bolton Wanderers... Hello again. Looks like they've started without me. As we can actually see the Bolton team now, here's their league chart.... It's a bit weird when you come out of the shower and find this going on outside. Football. Just watching the football. Not a huge crowd here tonight. The Burton fans are the ones closest to me, in yellow. Unusual. Football. The Bolton goalkeeper. The view in my mirror is quite funny. The mascot. Home fans. The ball. We get some atmospheric clouds too now. Reserve players, and probably the managers too. Half time. Pitch inspection. Various things going on. A raffle being drawn. Still half time. Weird things going on. Half time. A competition for the fans. This man won four cocktails. Are they still at it? I assume the scoreboard must be on this wall because I can't see it. I can tell that Burton have jus... According to an announcement, Emile Heskey has been substituted into the game. I've heard of him but... I get the impression that Bolton are about to lose. A lot of their supporters are leaving already. T... The end of the match. I'm not sure what the score was but Burton are through to the next round and B... The Burton fans applaud their team. Tidying up. Reporters filing their stories. After the match. The substitutes' chairs have covers. I guess that that's the press box. The stadium in the morning, just as the centre spot emerges into sunlight. I keep finding tiny little labels like this on every chair I've been sitting on. It's as if they're ... Mowing the pitch. I don't think I've heard of two places in the same country being twinned with each other before. Another quiet cycleway to start the day. Golfers. I like it when the signposts agree with the route that I've planned. Apparently, it's the fabulous singing wall of Jauncey Street. If a club is called "Wanderers", it indicates that in its early days, the club didn't have... As is fairly common in this region, there are alleys like this between the backs of the houses. In 1895, Bolton Wanderers moved from Pike's Lane to here, Burnden Park, where they stayed until 1997... The arrangement which I used to take the previous photograph. The camera mount wouldn't survive the ... Sadly, another reason why Burnden Park is notable is because of the disaster here in 1946 where too ... Burnden Park is also notable for being the subject of the Lowry painting "Going to the Match&qu... Bolton. An old railway bridge. I might have been able to use it to cross the valley without having to come d... The view along the bridge. I've popped in just to see the view, which wasn't as imressive as I had expected. Bury. Bury. What, the one where I'm standing? Bury Town Hall. Until now, I had seen only 10 grounds in 4 days. Today I hope to see another 6. This is Gigg Lane, h... I think the easiest place to touch it is down here. 11. Bury... An old-fashioned hardware shop. The Spotland Stadium. Opened in 1920. Capacity 10249. Record attendance 24231. Home to another third... 12. Rochdale.... Rochdale. Rochdale. Rochdale. This really is feeling like a holiday at the moment. The weather is amazing and this area doesn't fe... Rochdale Town Hall. Work is being done to uncover the River Roch, which has been hidden underground for years. Rochdale. Rochdale. Oldham. Well, I wasn't expecting this. This is Oldham Athletic's ground, Boundary Park, Until very recently,... The new stand. As this trip goes on, it should be encouraging to see lists like this feature increasingly many team... Opened in 1904. Capacity 10638. Record attendance 47671.... It's a bit of a mess. 13. Oldham Athletic... Pies. Oldham. Oh, I know where I am again now. A canal and the M60. A collision with a bollard has just broken the spring-loading mechanism on the USB cable which I was... This ground isn't on my list but it's interesing anyway. This is Broadhurst Park, the home of a team... FC United seem to like the minimalist look. They are known for having no advertising on their shirts... By chance, I've happened across Newton Heath Train Maintenance Depot, which I think is probably wher... Here comes the next stadium. It looks like there's some kind of event going on here. I've seen a lot of officials directing traff... It looks like fans must have paid to have their names laid in the floor here, like in the bricks at ... The same place. This is Manchester City's ground which is called the City of Manchester Stadium for purposes where a... 14. Manchester City... I should probably clarify that where I've been quoting dates for the opening of a stadium, what I ac... City of Manchester Stadium. Something's going on but I don't know what. Oh, I didn't mean to have two pictures like this. City of Manchester Stadium. City of Manchester Stadium. Here, behind this list of gold medallists from the 2002 Games, is the Manchester Regional Arena, whi... The Manchester Regional Arena. The two stadia. The coat of arms of the city of Manchester, along with the emblems of the football teams Manchester ... Part of the University of Manchester. The University. What is says there. This is Rutherford's laboratory. Crownchy? Maine Road, a famous name from football history. The houses on the two sides of this street clearly weren't built at the same time. The ones on the l... This grass marks where the centre circle of the Maine Road pitch was. Until last week, I had only ever been into three football grounds and two of those have subsequently... It seems like an appropriate place to leave another of my ducks. A restaurant. These are accommodation blocks for the University but from 1892 to 1994, this was the Fallowfield St... This is a very good cycle route. A tram station. A tram. The tram station at Old Trafford cricket ground. Old Trafford cricket ground. Old Trafford, opened in 1910, is the largest ground of any football club in England. Its record atte... George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. Some tourists. 15. Manchester United... The expansion has reached a stage where the stadium has a uniform height and appearance around three... Altrincham. That's where I'll be staying tonight but I have one more ground to visit first. Are Grimsby Town following me? 16. Altrincham... Moss Lane. First game 1910. Capacity 6085. Record attendance 10275.... The light bulb in my bathroom is rather noisy. I'm tempted to fill this in and take it to reception ... Something 's going on with my left panier. My water bottles fell out twice while I was walking from ... A park. This ground doesn't fit into any of the categories that I am visiting. I was amazed when I found out... ... Stockport County. It seems a little bit funny that it's actually a real place. I don't need to touch this one but it's a nice colour. Hazel Grove. A traffic jam. These two were doing interval sprints on a short section of the old railway line. The first couple o... A little tunnel.