This miracle of civil engineering was designed by Santiago Calatrava and finished in 1995.

There is a good view north towards the Cathedral.

The river you are standing over is the River Irwell, which just as the Danube separates Buda from Pest, divides the two cities of Salford and Manchester.

The health of the river was one of the first things to suffer when the Industrial Revolution arrived. Local comedian Les Dawson once said, "the fish in the Irwell don't have gills, they have grease-nipples".

With the demise of the cotton industry and the closure of most of the bleaching and dyeing factories along its length, the river is starting to recover. The Irwell, by the way, joins the River Mersey, several kilometres down stream.