Chester town centre moorings

Captains Log

Canal Date 13^th June 2010

Travels Miles 5 1/2

Locks 5

Staircase Lock 1

Current Location Milners Heath

OS Ref SJ 465 362

Chester Town Centre!

Any one who knows me at all will know my natural aversion to any major town or city, particularly if it has shops and shopping centres; this is made even more unbearable if there are loads of people and kids running about! BAH- HUMBUG!

I think that I may be mellowing, I found Chester to be a particularly nice place to be in. It is a beautiful walled city with fine buildings.

We were moored close to the city centre; I expected it to be busy in the daytime and noisy at night. I was wrong, it was fine.

The local town planners have managed to keep the essence of the city in tact. We went round the shops; we walked the town wall and enjoyed the sights. There is a wealth of things to see and do. One of the things that went through my mind was the amount of paper work that one would have to produce today to convince the powers that be that the railway and canal need to enter the tiny city centre and to incorporate this ancient city walls will have to be knocked down. I suspect that the railway would run outside the city walls if today’s rules were applied.

We moved from the city centre, back tracking our route through the scary staircase locks. We were watched by a coach load of German tourist, (I did not mention the war) Watched is the key work here. The lock gates are huge and poor Pam was struggling at times to move them.

It is a lovely time of the year on the canal, everything is green, the wild flowers are all in bloom, and fluffy ducks are everywhere.

We are moored in the middle of nowhere. I can not see a house or farm building in any direction, there are no boats moored anywhere near us, bliss.

This morning I was rudely awaken at the crack of dawn by the bells of the local church. It is close but out of sight. Fancy ringing the bells at such an early time on a Sunday morning. Not everyone gets up before 10.30