Back in Nantwich With Some Tales to Tell

We both enjoyed our stay in Chester. The mooring in the middle of the city turned out to be comfortable. Sometimes the city noise, especially over a weekend, can be rather loud. I guess you can't complain too much anyway since we sailed straight into the middle of the city and moored for free for two nights. Rachael and I had time to do some sightseeing, Chester is very compact and easy to get around so we were able to walk everywhere we needed to go. First port of call was the Roman Amphitheatre, the largest in the UK. Not too much left of it but you get the idea.



 

The Roman Gardens contained a collection of Roman artefacts found throughout Chester and surrounding areas, this mosaic was eye-catching. If you look closely at the wall in the background you should be able to make out a patch. This was a repair after the wall was breached by the Roundheads in 1645 during the Civil War and just prior to taking the city a few months later.

 Rachael standing by the remains of a Roman bath house.

The lentil didn't need to be very high back when these houses were built inside the city walls. At the highest the door openings here would be approx. 160cm.

 

The Chester Town Crier in action in the city square.

 Taking a break from circumnavigating the Chester City Wall.

 

We headed out of Chester after two nights stay heading for Ellesmere Port, the northern termination point of the Shropshire Union Canal. The canal follows the city wall for quite a while, a lovely cruise.

We had planned to stay two days in Ellesmere and then make our way back to Nantwich to continue our journey around the Four Counties Ring. We arrived in Ellesmere Port around mid afternoon, moored and took a look around. Statistics say that only 25% of the boats that get to Chester continue on to Ellesmere, I now know why! The scenery is nothing to write home about and Ellesmere is nothing out of the box either. There is a boat museum there however, we weren't up for it. Rachael and I headed back to the boat, had an early dinner and headed back up the canal to moor just before the staircase locks at Chester.

The next morning was interesting. After taking on the staircase locks, nearly an hour to do the three, we stopped off at Chester for one last shopping trip. Back to the boat and off through the suburbs, we were followed out by a young couple in a hire boat. These locks can fit two boats in at one time so we both went into the lock as the girls closed the gates and started filling the lock. We were chatting in the lock and slowly drifted forward, as we reversed Serafina reversed back but the other boat didn't. I could see most of the propeller out of the water. A leak in the lock gate had sprayed water into the Well Deck and started sinking the boat. The gates were quickly shut down just in time to allow the water to empty. Funny after the fact.

We moored in Christleton just behind the hire boat couple for the night. Next morning Rachael noticed the hire boat drifting out in the middle of the canal with only the rear peg attached. There was some quick work to haul the boat back to the bank. They left Christleton well before us on a cold, wet and windy day where I was content to lay in bed and listen to the rain on the roof.

The only excitement left was today, going through the Bunbury Staircase Locks with another boat. I went to move into Lock One after filling Lock Two and the boat wouldn't move. We checked everything out and realised that we were grounded, not enough water had come into the lock. Easily fixed with another metre of water!

 

 

Sharing the locks at Bunbury.