Retirement with No Problem

Chester to Knoll’s Bridge (131), Shropshire Union Canal, 2 miles 3 locks (staircase)

What an enjoyable day in Chester..

But it was while I was walking Lucy and Meg this morning that I discovered the River Dee link from the Shropshire Union Canal.  The link drops down through locks starting with this one..

The first lock is just under that bridge, but it was the red narrowboat that made me smile.. it’s name.. “Pist-n-Broke” .. ha, I wondered if it was advertising the fact that it was broken down!! .  Wonderful name, it made me smile for a while that!

On down round the corner past the next lock is a lovely area with new housing..

Then I saw the approach to the last lock that leads out onto the river itself.  This is a double staircase lock.  It had stop planks in just before the lock entrance..

Does anyone have any idea why these stop planks are there? 

I found an account from the Tuesdaynightclub (click here), when in 2004 they took their narrowboat Ernest through these locks and then on down to the River Dee.  From there they made their way upstream by ‘jumping’ the weir in the photo on the blog last night.  Do have a look at that, the pictures are excellent.

So a bit later than I had planned, because of my walkabouts, we set off to explore.  The cathedral is very prominent, although today we did not go in.. can’t do everything.. I wanted to window shop today..

We didn’t go to the huge shopping centre but wandered around the streets within the walls.. there are shops at two levels with a walkway on the top level.  I have never seen so many independent shops in one town or city before.  It was a wonderful experience and the diversity of things for sale was absolutely incredible.  I could have spent a fortune today, but my mission was window shopping! Mission accomplished too! (somehow!!) 

I want to call in here again on our way back from Ellesmere Port if time allows.. there was still more that I wanted to see, plus my camera phone ran out of battery, I want some more pics to remind me of this fantastic place.  I am so pleased we came here..

With lunch out on one of the upper levels of ‘the rows’ and a visit to the market for fruit and vegetables it was time to return to No Problem to pull the pins on Chester and make our way out of the city for the weekend.

This cutting has been literally cut out of the stone.. and so has this triple staircase lock..

You can see the sides are carved out of the natural stone.. the gates are huge..

Even looking at that picture gives me butterflies!.. but soon we were in the bottom lock of the staircased three..

So it was goodbye to Chester for now as we cruised passed the gardens of the suburbs.  I love looking at the gardens..

Everybody’s garden is different.. I can be nosey!  But the gardens are there to be looked at, most in Chester have made a real effort to enhance the canal at the bottom of the garden..

Found a nice place to put the pins in, and Lucy and Meg have had a run over some handy footpaths that criss cross this area.  Just had to be a bit careful as the local farmer was spreading his fields with lime and it was rather windy.. we kept well upwind of him..