There are 52 places in the world called Manchester . A simple enough message on the laptop screen as I look at a web site about my own Manchester .
Thirty two Manchester ’ s within reach of a road-trip , yes , 31 are in the USA and one just over the border in Canada . With the aid of a mapping web site the position of each Manchester made up what could be a really great concept . The Road 2 Manchester
On the 15th May 2011 , I set off from Boston Massachusetts on a hired Honda 1800 Goldwing , it was raining and cool , ( just like most riding days back home ). Ahead of me an 8525 mile route across the states to as many towns I could manage , the only proviso , the target towns were called Manchester .
Day one , I managed two Manchester ’ s , ending up in New Hampshire at 6pm in the first of many heavy downpours . A Facebook invite from Ben Slavin , ( Young RTW bike traveller and film maker ), resulted in a nice meal in Manchester ’ s oldest ‘ Arrow Diner ’. Things are looking up .
Manchester NH was styled on my own city , and even had the largest cotton mill in the USA . What I didn ’ t know at that time , was it was the only full sized city I would visit on my quest .
Day two as I headed up to Maine in the North East corner of the USA , the wet weather came and went and plans to visit Mount Washington and the alpine style road to the top was quashed by low cloud and more rain . The road was closed , ride it , I didn ’ t even see it !
Over quiet and sweeping roads , and the White Mountains to Manchester , Vermont and day three came to a close in the Manchester Bar and Grill where the locals made me very welcome . The beer was mainly free along with a branded sweat shirt . 967 miles in 3 days , all on A roads in mad weather , no records being broken , but hey ho , its early days .
After a quick visit to Manchester Connecticut and a nice chat at the Town Clerks office , I carried on towards New York State . It was only as I emerged like a drowned rat at the end of that 40 minute storm , that I realised I had not seen another bike or biker on the road for four days . Maybe they knew it was coming , or just have more sense . I continued the trend in Manchester New York , barging into the town hall and announcing myself as being from the other Manchester , in England . Great reception from all , and a good start to getting my quest out there .