Sunday 29th August
We have had a bit of a Curate’s Egg kind of a day today. We have come 3 miles and done 8 large locks including the dreaded Northgate Staircase (more on this later) and are now moored in Tower Basin in Chester. It is quite nice here in the basin, Telford’s Warehouse pub, which no doubt will be noisy later on, is across the water and we are also adjacent to the River Dee Branch, which is down the bank on this side.
The first lock we encountered today was a bit of a bugger. It was huge compared to what we had been used to lately, even the recent doubles and it needed filling. This took ages as there is a serious leak at the bottom gate for a start. Then when it was full I just could not get the gates to open. They seemed to be wedged together and in the end Ken and a passer by had to help me open them! While all this was going on we were joined by another boat which was good as it is always better to do double locks with someone else.
The weather had taken somewhat of a turn for the worse since we left, there were squally showers and the wind had really got up. As a result of this wind our satellite dish, which was laying flat on the roof of the boat, (as it always does when we are cruising) got caught by a gust of wind, did a passable impression of a frisbee and blew straight into the canal! So that’s £100 for a new one!
A bit further on, a mat flew off the roof of the boat we were travelling with and I got soaked rescuing it. Firstly I had to kneel down in the grass at the edge of the canal to get it, then the wind blew it slap bang into my legs as I stood up, great!
We carried on into Chester without incident until we reached the Northgate staircase locks. Our travelling companions had moored up to go to the shops so we were doing these on our own. All was well until I tried to shut the gates between the 2nd and 3rd locks. There was something wedged under one of the gates and it wouldn’t shut. We collected quite a gathering of gongoozlers, most of whom just got in the way and pissed me off! Some tried to help by opening and shutting the gates trying to dislodge whatever it was that was stopping them from closing. In the end I had to phone BW.
A boat had arrived to come up the locks but obviously they couldn’t get in as we were still stuck in the bottom lock! I told them I had phoned BW about the blockage. They did a bit of gate jiggling and we managed to get them closed enough so the water going out was more than the water coming into the lock we were in and we managed to get out (after about half an hour)! Ken went round to the basin to moor up and I waited for BW. When they arrived they opened the gates again and a large piece of wood came out. I guess if we had done the opening and shutting thing a few more times ourselves we wouldn’t have needed to have called them out!
Meantime, Ken was trying to moor up on his own but the wind blew the front of the boat across the basin and he couldn’t get it in by himself! Fortunately he was assisted by a couple who were moored up nearby. We were glad to stop and get moored up today I can tell you!
A trip to the pub was DEFINITELY in order after that lot! We went to the conveniently situated Telford’s Warehouse, just across the basin and sat outside in a howling gale. The sun had come out by that time though so it was quite pleasant.
We are planning to stay here for a couple of days now, after today we need the rest!
