20/08/26 - Greater Manchester Ringway - Stage 17

Peat Bogs in the RainI left the Greater Manchester Ringway in the Holiday Inn Express. It's been a long time since I've stayed in a corporate hotel. Vaguely interesting to have a late night pint in a soulless lounge, eavesdropping on other tables of people forced into spending time with each other. There's always one talking loudly, and that one is talking about work. You can watch the eyes of their colleagues glaze over in real time.If the question is "Where to go in a drought for a chance of rainfall?" the answer has to be Manchester.I'm almost too scared to throw those curtains wide, with persistent thunder heard on the other side.But there is hopeIncredibly, after an attempt to break the record of most sausages eaten at a free buffet breakfast, the rain stops. And it very nearly stays stopped.This meteorological prelude is necessary. This stage of the walk has absolutely nothing to talk about.The Leeds Liverpool Canal is left behind, replaced by flat agricultural land on the…