Retirement with No Problem

Beeston Castle to Chester, Shropshire Union Canal, 9.5 miles 5 locks

Gosh it was nippy this morning, and after a hard frost last night too.  But the sun was shining once more, so I was happy enough to put the back canopy down so there would be no visual restrictions as we cruised further north..

I was very surprised to see a huge marina.. Tattenhall Marina

In the making of course!  Just after this was what I was waiting for.. or not.. Paul Balmer did warn me that my surprise of the number of boats moored on the Middlewich Branch would be nothing to later on our way to Chester.. Just after this new marina there was a line of what must have been a mile and half or even 2 miles of moored boats.. some liveaboards, some decaying and some just waiting for their owners to come out in the spring.  I doubt any of those will back up to the new marina just behind them!

A granny annex.. what a good idea!..

I wonder if No Problem will fit in one of my children’s gardens!!

Nah, I love the waterways too much.. It will take an awful lot to prise me away from this way of life I’ll tell you..

Lovely rolling countryside today, and Lucy and Meg ran the towpath for 6 miles and still wanted more when I asked them to get onboard for a rest at Waverton.  Not long afterwards we were in the suburbs of Chester with new housing flanking the canalside.

The pins went in beside the city wall.  Although the two Ds Dot and Derek suggested mooring at the bottom of the triple staircase flight, Chas and Ann preferred the spot beside the wall, so that will do for us too.. Then the inevitable.. a trip around the city on foot via that magnificent wall..

So now I am doing the tourist thing.. a few snaps coming up..

I’ll be down there tomorrow having a brouse round no doubt.. then around the south side of the city, the River Dee..

That is the huge weir that drops from the upper Dee through the city.  The tide was out today, so the weir was fast, but it is possible to cross the weir in a narrowboat when the tide is right, there is just enough room to cross.. mind you one or two boats in the past have got stranded on that weir.. oh my, how embarrassing.. and the view from the city wall and the bridge of a stuck narrowboat would for sure attract hundreds of gongoozlers!

But we won’t be chancing giving that sort of spectacle to the good people of Chester THIS time around!

One of the towers that are on each of the corners as the walk encircles the city, and here is No Problem and Moore2Life as seen from the walkway above..

A longer cruise for us today than of late, but very enjoyable, and tomorrow I will be exploring Chester before moving out late in the day towards Ellesmere Port.