A generally bright and sunny day and comfortably warm. We set off with a level run towards Chester.
Just over an hour brought us to Tower Wharf where we stopped to empty the elsan. We decided to leave the water until the top of the locks. As we were about to leave, the couple on nb Ange de l'Eau asked if they could share with us up through the Northgate staircase as they were just finishing their water fill. We have been hopping past each other for several days but not actually spoken until now. They are German and just into their retirement project to explore all of the canal network in two six month cruises.
We encountered no problems rising up through Northgate Locks which took about half an hour - they are not the fastest to fill.
We let our lock companions go ahead as we planned to stop just after the city walls so that we could pop to the shops. The main purpose was go go to Tesco for food shopping but Mike also went off with Jess to get his watch repaired - it has lost the bar when it came off (see earlier blog). Mike decided to treat himself to a new strap as well. We went into the first jeweller we could find and were served by a most pleasant young lady who treated us as if we were buying one of their expensive items rather than just a £9.95 strap!
Temptation took further hold as Mike and Jess then went in pursuit of the sweet shop we saw on our previous visit. We stocked up well and even added to the bags at Poundland who do a good offer on Toblerone! Jess recognised quite a number of the places we saw on our previous visit. The weather was better for a picture of the famous EastGate. We met up with the other two who had by then almost completed the round of the aisles but needed help in choosing which ice cream to select!
Then we returned to the boat just in time for lunch! Alice particularly enjoyed trying two of the hummus portions which they had found reduced! As we were finishing our food, the local restaurant boat came by. It seems that it has a propellor at both ends as it just shuttles up and down. It was full of guests who had been enjoying their lunch on board before a short cruise.
Whilst Christine walked to Waitrose (we discovered at lunch that we were running low on cucumber, a favourite with both Alice and Jess, the rest of us cruised slowly to the next lock and started to empty it. By the time the lock was ready, Christine had caught up.
The restaurant boat caught up with us at the next lock where the passengers are given the opportunity to stretch their legs as the boat comes up the lock.
As the girls jogged along the towpath between locks, some of us thought that some of us would perhaps be tired after yesterday - correct, some of us were tired but they were not the girls!
The last pound is the shortest and before long we were at the top. Just around the corner is the water point we missed on the way to Chester. We cannot really understand how we failed to spot it!
We then had a pleasant later afternoon level cruise. We might have gone a little further but we ended up mooring at much the same spot as before, although it took us a couple of goes to find a point where we could actually come close enough to the bank and also have a tv signal! Tonight we will have the roast beef that we were too late back to have last night!
Jess thinks that we should include a photo of the new watch strap so here it is!
1.2 Miles - 8 Locks
No comments:
Post a Comment