Chester draws us: Day 9

A nice sunny morning and at last the wind had dropped.  As we were moored pretty much next to Tesco, we went for shopping for the next few days.  Once all that was stowed, we set off at about 10am, passing the same landmarks we saw on the way in.

At the first lock, Hooke Lane, a boat was coming down and seemed to take ages.  Adrian was up at the lock and said it kept getting stuck on an underwater ledge on the offside.  We eventually went into the lock, but then waited because I’d spotted a boat coming.  It was a single-hander who’d been moored near us last night. In some ways it makes it easier having two boats in the lock, because the water is quite turbulent and one boat gets knocked all over the place.

There was another wait at the third lock as a boat was coming down.  Then at the final lock, Christleton, Adrian spotted a bucket of bouquets of flowers by the fence, with a sign saying they were left over from a wedding, a little past their best but still cute, and to help yourself.  So he took one and so did our lock companion.

We wanted water at Christleton but there was a boat already there.  It was a hire boat crewed by people dressed an oompa-loompas who were not getting water but having a coffee while they decided whether to go down to Chester or turn round and head back.  They decided to reverse through the bridge and turn.  We started filling the tank, got some washing going, and had lunch.

The next stretch is lock free, but after Waverton we had the mile of moored boats to go past.  At the midpoint is a bridge, and you get views of the Peckforton hills.

It took just over 35 minutes to pass all the boats.  Some of them have sheds or summerhouses, and I liked the one with a retro library of videos and DVDs, and room for just one chair.  The final one has a mannequin fishing and a bus stop on their antenna pole.

We moored up on some piling just past Tattenhall Marina, and have resisted walking to the ice cream farm nearby.

7 miles, 5 locks.  (23 miles, 16 locks)