intrepid pony: Chester and the River Dee

City Road Visitor Moorings

Tower in the city wall

It was a pleasant morning- far better than we had expected from the long range forecast.

After over two hours cruising we reached the first lock I had closed the gate and had just put my windlass on the paddle gear when a boat horn sounded. I looked back – a boat had nosed round the corner.

Knowing that they must have been cruising fast to catch us up I opened the other gate for them.

The canal is hidden from the city above

Going down the staircase locks

“Thank you,” a friendly woman said. “I hope you didn’t mind the horn.”

Waiting for them speeded our trip through that and the following locks down into Chester. Like yesterday both crews worked as an efficient team – but this time a young man from the other boat closed the gates for both boats with me while two girls walked ahead to get the next lock ready and open both lock gates so that both boats could drive straight in.

I think it was our quickest passage through 5 wide locks for years. Finally both boats found a space on the City Road visitor moorings in Chester by 1.00. They were waiting for another son to swell their crew whereas we wanted to shop at the nearby supermarket.

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After lunch and the shopping trip we waved goodbye to the other boaters and set off again. We turned the corner and passed alongside the city wall with its circular watch towers. The canal narrowed and squeezed between towering cliffs which seemed far from the bustling city.

filling with water

boats moored on the link to the river Dee just below us

Within minutes we arrived at the Chester staircase locks, but this time there were three wide locks in the staircase. It took ages to prepare the lock ready for the boat to enter the top lock but no boats appeared to share it. The boat descended slowly – it was almost as bad as watching paint dry. We left the bottom lock and turned the corner...to the lower basin.

The link to the River Dee lies hidden below the canal to the right

lock down to the moorings on the link

“Oh it’s a lot nicer than last time we were here,” the Captain said. "We could stay here." It was clean, the old warehouse was now a busy pub and the dry dock was neatly fenced off. The lock down onto the Dee also looked in good working order. What had been a wilderness down below on the river Dee was now a neat well kept mooring filled with boats. We filled with water and pulled the boat back to the space before the water point which was just long enough for us.

Bridge over the link

a boat that doesn't float

Having moored up we took Lottie for a walk along the locks leading down into the River Dee. The whole area had been redeveloped with modern buildings and bridges.

Derelict lock down to the River Dee

Will this ever work again?

As we approached the lowest lock the waterway became derelict. The gate onto the river had a metal plate on it stating it had been replaced in 2006 but since then both balance beams had been removed and the far gate had a broken pivot beam. When had the last boat locked down into the river? On the way back we explored further and went through the Water Tower gardens which nestled against part of the old wall.