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England on the Sharp's narrow boat Hawkeye, Day 5, May 19
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Up, breakfast, leisurely cruise into Chester, 2 miles and 8 locks away. Two of these are "staircase" locks which are characterized by having chambers with only one gate between them. So today, it's 8 locks but only 7 locks worth of gates - if that makes any sense (grin). Chester is one of the two English cities in which the old Roman city wall remains intact. Due to the short distance, no photos until we enter Chester.
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The canal runs below the wall and, I believe, was once the moat for the wall. Here, we are entering Chester under the wall.
Here a shot down the canal with the wall on the left. The couple ahead had accompanied us through the last day or so because the locks on this section of the Stropshire Union are double locks - being wide enough for tow boats to use them simultaneously. These folks were going through at the same time so we shared locks from below Christleton all the way to Chester.
After negotiating the canal and locks, Hawkeye was moored in the basin across from Telford's Warehouse. This is a pub but once was a warehouse dealing with merchandise brought to it via the canals. Note the area under the windows. This was where the old narrow boats pulled in to be loaded and unloaded.
In this Google Earth satellite image of Chester, you can make out the old city wall marked by the white arrows. Hawkeye was moored as indicated, across from Telford's Warehouse
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After settling in on the mooring, we decided to walk into town to pick up some groceries and look around. Along the path to an opening in the wall was this set of wooden sculptures in a small park. We thought they were nice enough to show.
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Left, Frank, Christy and Dot standing at a gate under the old Roman city wall on our walk into town. This small gate was nearest the canal where we are moored. We went in here and up onto the wall, walking along the wall to the North Gate. Right, The North Gate. This was rebuilt in 1807 (if I read Roman numerals right - grin) when the original gate, a really massive one, was reported to be disintegrating.
Walking along Northgate St., we passed the west entrance to Chester Cathedral, pictured here.
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Left, some of the shop buildings in Old Chester. I believe I read somewhere that most of the buildings had burned or fallen down but the city had been careful to insure that the replacements were built as period structures and had to match the original appearance. Right, Dot looking down one of the streets in Old Town Chester.
This is a photo of the East Gate with the Eastgate Clock placed on the wall over the gate in 1897. The two hats in the lower center of the picture are Frank and Christy.
After strolling around the old city for a while, we dropped by the grocery store and picked up some staples. The girls had previously gone to the post office to pick up stamps and mailing supplies. We made our way back to Hawkeye, then dropped in on Telford's Warehouse to have a pint and catch up on e-mail. Came back to Hawkeye and relaxed, had dinner, caught up on post cards, downloaded images and watched TV until time to turn in. Tomorrow is a full day of sightseeing in Chester.
Goto Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17-19
England on the Sharp's narrow boat Hawkeye, Day 5, May 19