Elaine here ...
This morning we left our mooring in Christleton, Chester bright and relatively early, for us ! It was a hot, blue-sky day and Liam and I prepared ourselves for the locks ahead!!
The cruise into Chester is interesting, with various housing and buildings along the way ...
We met this nice chap and his wife, on NB A-Jay, along the way so, finally, we were not Nigel-no-friends for the double locks !
At one of the locks along the way, I saw a beautiful bush with purple flowers on - so (in my quest to identify everything botanical!) - I asked a couple of 'older' folk sitting on the bench there what it was. They declared that they hadn't a clue, but suggested I should nick a bit anyway (it was on the outside of the the lock cottage - so I did - purely for identification purposes !). By the time we got into the middle of Chester, the couple had caught us up and handed me a Tesco bag full of the flowers! The old man had gone to the cottage to ask them what it was and they gave him a few cuttings .. turned out they were wild Sweet Peas !! What a sweet couple to bring me some Sweet Peas - I was so touched !
We reached the centre and moored up as we had to duck into Tesco's for some more supplies - we have a growing teenager on board now, so we have to keep him fed !
The moorings were great, with rings all along the way.
This was a groovy trip boat that passed us by ....
There was a vast array of canalside pubs and eateries ... looks really lovely !
We did our shop, unpacked, ate some lunch and set off again for the Chester basin...
The dogs came out to check out the view - it had been too hot for them to sit out thus far, but a few clouds had flown it to cool us down by then ...
I think this canalside pub was called the Lock-Keeper - looked tempting but we kept on going !
Very picturesque journey ...
Just before you can get into the basin there is a staircase lock of 3. When we pulled in at the top, we noticed a camera crew getting ready to film a fellow walking and talking across the footbridge ... they asked us if it was OK to film our boat coming out of the lock ... of course, we said yes (no pressure then!). By the time the filming was getting ready to commence we had also attracted a LOT of gongoozlers (no more pressure then!). Anyway, in all the kerfuffle, I forgot to ask them what they were fiming it for - oops !
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| Anyone know who he is ?! |
The locks are really deep and big - poor Paul kept beeping me on the walkie talkie 'cos he was lonely and felt a long way away !! In the middle lock he said he could hear a lot of creaking and was just imagining if the whole lot gave way - ever the optimist :(
Anyway, we made it down the staircase - kept smiling all the way in case the cameras were rolling on us! I think a lot of the gongoozlers thought that they were filming us - they seemed a bit disappointed when the camera didn't follow us down the locks and that we weren't actually famous !!
Paul's camera died while he was in the locks, so he took a few more pics on our phone ...
We availed ourselves of the services down in the basin (NB: there is a 'secret' Elsan down there - you just have to find it in the corner of the bottom basin!) - so, being full of water and empty of 'other stuff', we moored up on the far side of the basin (near the pub) and went off for another tourist walk of Chester ... it really is a beautiful city - soooo much history - we just love it!
We couldn't get over how busy it was everywhere too !
While we have been in the area we have been in touch with Steve from
'NB Amy Jo', who lives in the area, and tonight was the night for us to catch up with him, so we headed back to the boat, had our dinner and then Steve battled through some mega-traffic to come and visit us !
We had a lovely chat on the boat and then we all went to TONIGHT'S PUB OF THE DAY (!) ... Telford's Warehouse ... ( a lovely pub inside - beautifully restored! Lots of young 'uns in there too!)
This is Steve, Liam and myself - having a pose pre-pub ...
- and this is the view from inside the pub - and we could watch our boat from the bar - bonus ! (NB Caxton is in the 3rd full windowframe along)
... and this is the view post-pub (sorry we kept you so late, Steve !)
- looking from our boat !
Another late night ! Tomorrow we will set sail for
Ellesmere Port - hope they don't film us going back up the staircase !
