Goodbye Macc, hello Chester

 

This is our second day moored in Chester and it's very spring like. We've walked along the River Dee and sat outside the boat this afternoon. We really love Chester's old city centre.

Our final couple of days on the Peak Forest Canal we spent at Bugsworth Basin where I went to my first knitting group at 'Yarnbirds' an excellent yarn shop in Whaley Bridge. It was so good to meet up with Dorothy, the editor of 'Yarnmaker' magazine.

I steered the boat and John did all 12 Bosley Locks. When we got to the bottom of Bosley locks we came across a couple of swans having a right to do, the course of true love is sometimes a little rough!

We  moored that evening at Ramsdell Hall. where John got some amazing photos of a pair of buzzards and sun set. It's really good to be able to do a nice long journey as it'll take us to 5-6 days to get to Ellesmere Port for Easter.

As we approached the Trent and Mersey Canal the water changed to a very orange colour. We were leaving the Peak District behind and the hills were getting further into the distance and the land scape seemed almost like we'd see on the Grand Union.

We ended up with a 2.5 mile walk when we moored at Hassall Green. Sadly the shop and pub there had closed down. At this mooring we were very near the M6 slightly north of junc 17 and as we headed off we saw the evening rush hour traffic at a stand still.

At Middlewich we filled up with diesel at Kings Lock Chandlery and got some spare alternator belts and throttle cable, just incase we're in the middle of nowhere and they break. I think we'll have to spend a few more days exploring this lovely little town on our way back from Ellesmere Port.

We stopped for water at Calvelery and met a single handed lady boater whose had got her boat the same time as ourselves. Her bow fender attachment had come loose and as she attempted to fixed it she dropped a big link into the canal. So the very strong magnet I got John for his birthday was able to rescue the missing link for her.

I am knitting bunting like mad now as I think we'll need some to decorate the boat for Easter. It's a good way to use up all my odds and ends of yarn.

Tomorrow we are going to start a leisurely run to Ellesmere Port, it should only take 2 ½ hours but we have two days, we go past Chester zoo so maybe we'll stop off and have a look to see if we can see any animals.