With the brief this week being to try something new, I figured that I would take the plunge and try out the newly-branded Starling bikes that I’ve always been too scared to try.
I put together a list of important statues across the city and went off on a lovely bike ride to see them all.
I put together a list of important statues across the city and went off on a lovely bike ride to see them all.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So today's brief is to do something that you've never done before and this might be a little bit boring of me
00:04but I've never ever
00:05rented one of the bikes in Manchester before and they seem like a massively convenient way of getting around. My plan for today is I've
00:11been given a little bit of a scavenger hunt and I'm gonna set out across Manchester to try and tick off some of the most
00:16famous statues that we have here.
00:18So first job was to set up my account on the new Starling bike then unlock a bike and set off.
00:23So I've just hopped off the bike here going around 5-6 minutes for a walk
00:28that should usually be 15 from where I work and yeah, we found the first statue.
00:32So this is Mahatma Gandhi. Now his links to Manchester might not immediately be obvious
00:37but essentially he was a scholar here. So we'll get back on the bike. We'll move on to the next spot.
00:42So this journey was quite a short one.
00:43I set off along Deansgate to a place called Lincoln Square where you'll never guess who I saw.
00:47Abraham Lincoln look.
00:51So that's Lincoln literally now behind us and we're on to a very important figure in the women's suffrage movement.
00:57So just in St. Peter's Square
01:00right next to the Wagamamas.
01:02You have our next stop which is
01:05Emmeline Pankhurst there.
01:07One of the most important figures in the women's suffrage movement in the UK.
01:11A real hero of women everywhere even today and a massive part of Manchester's history too.
01:17I'm feeling pretty lucky that it's a nice day if I'm honest.
01:21Because there's no issues with rain or anything. I'm in a t-shirt, shorts, famous last words I suppose.
01:27Slight wrong turn in here. What I'm realising based on this is that
01:31navigation on these bikes can be tricky if you don't know where you're going.
01:33Up next is this cool Soviet-era statue of Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher who lived in Manchester for 20 years.
01:39So that's Engels done. You can see him as we move off behind.
01:42And now we're back towards the centre of the city towards the gay village.
01:46So look at a statue of one of the most important and influential gay figures in world history.
01:51Just made it into Sackville Gardens now for
01:55the Alan Turing statue or
01:58sculpture. I'm gonna go with statue.
02:00Turing not only one of the most important gay figures in Manchester's history
02:03but also in the world. A famous co-breaker who helped turn the tide of the World War Two when all looked lost.
02:09And then just up the road and a much less serious note is this Wimpto statue because the first ever Wimpto was brewed in Manchester.
02:15So next stop is Piccadilly train station. We're heading up there because there's a little statue right outside the entrance.
02:19If you travel to and from Manchester, you may very well be aware of.
02:23So yeah, we're here at Piccadilly now.
02:25Statue here is a line of flying soldiers
02:28all leading each other onwards to commemorate the 100th anniversary at the end of the First World War.
02:33I feel a bit emotional to be honest. I feel like I've been through quite a lot with this bike.
02:36It's been years and years since I've ridden one. Bike locked up, heading back up to the office.
02:43Overall that was around
02:4545 minutes or so.
02:47And again, that was me stopping and filming at each location too.
02:50So generally much, much quicker than it would have been walking with filming as well.
02:53Very quick, very efficient, very useful. And I, you know what, I enjoyed myself.
02:58Follow Manchester World for more.