I returned to the site a week after the previous visit, with the primary aim of attaining the photos for the photographic site sections which hadn't worked at the first attempt. This was successful, and one example of it is shown below, brought alongside audio and sped-up video footage from walking along the same route. This example shows the edge of the site from the Bridgewater Canal side.
Bridgewater Canal edge of the site: sights and sounds
As well as achieving this primary goal, I also got a lot out of being on site for a longer period of time, learning from the frustrations of being rushed the week before. This was beneficial as it allowed me to cover yet more of the site, taking my time to investigate all the little informal routes that have been created by people's repeated footsteps, getting off the beaten track. Through this I discovered several more artefacts of past industry and occupation of the site, emblematic of its brownfield nature, the layers of history, and how nature is reclaiming the site but not fully erasing these layers.
Moving beyond the site, I also got a chance to explore the peripheries and surrounding context of the site to a greater degree, including walking on the other side of the Manchester Ship Canal, in Salford, looking over towards the site. This helped me contextualise it better than previously.
Manchester Waters under construction south of the site, viewed from Salford across the Ship Canal
I saw more examples of the people and modes of transport that pass through and around the site – canal narrowboats in the Bridgewater Canal, cyclists, runners and walkers on the canal towpath, a car driving through the site itself, and a tourist cruise boat coming along the site on the Ship Canal and then up the other side in the Bridgewater Canal, via the dock at the southern edge of the site.
Canal narrowboat passing the site on the Bridgewater Canal and a Metrolink tram passing coming from Salford
Finally, it was interesting to see the site move from daytime into dusk, which I had also experienced the previous time. This time, it was getting dark as I walked along the Ship Canal edge in Salford, looking across to the site.
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