Three days for the price of one.

They say you should never look back but couldn't resist taking one last shot of the canal in Chester as we left on Friday. We were fortunate that we managed to pair up with another boat going up the locks out of the city. They are no fun for single boats, the water seems to come at you from all directions and chucks the boat all over the shop.

The Victorian water tower of Boughton water works. The water works is situated on the site of the springs that supplied Roman Chester with piped water and the area has been involved in water supply to the city virtually continuously ever since. The tower is now a listed building, those old Victorians knew a thing or two about building.
We stopped at Beeston that afternoon.

I know I put up pictures of the castle on the way up but I've put this one in just to keep everyone up to date.
Saturday we were again lucky in pairing up with another boat for the last five of the wide locks. We took Beeston Iron Lock singly though as the distortion makes it a bit iffy for two boats to share it. We were ahead at Bunbury staircase and the volunteers who were working it let us in the bottom but shut the gates on our companions as they had two boats in the top chamber. It's a couple of years since I last performed the "Bunbury Shuffle" but all went well and we were soon up and away, I was rather too busy to get pictures of this interesting manoeuvre, sorry. Brief stop at Calveley for water and to ditch the rubbish and on to Barbridge Junction for a quick left turn onto the Middlewich Arm and finally mooring for the day above Cholmondeston lock.
After our regulation Sunday brekkies, (It has to be a Full English on a Sunday doesn't it?) we joined the queue at the lock, fortunately all there were experienced boaters and worked through in fine style. As we left the bottom of the lock there was a boat coming up which suddenly swerved across the cut, collided with one of the moored boats at the marina and ended up jammed across the canal. It turned out that his bow thruster had failed and the wind had taken him. One should not rely too heavily on these aids to navigation.

Not long after leaving the errant boat behind us we came across the first brood of cygnets we have seen this year.
Like all bloggers who have travelled this way in the past I will include the obligatory pictures of

the wonderfully Dutch gabled house at Minshull Wharf and

the old canal stables a little further on; now a des. res.
We are now sitting on the forty-eight hour moorings above the River Weaver and Northwich  Winsford Top Flash. Wind and rain so far today so it will be tomorrow when we move on down to Middlewich.

Watch this space.........