Hardly worth putting a title on this one.

Since arriving back at Beeston yesterday we've just sat and watched the weather, it's been strong winds, strong winds + rain, rain + strong winds and sometimes just rain. It doesn't inspire any enthusiasm. Eating out this evening, must stop all this gallivanting, Jill will be forgetting how to cook and that would be a sin as she is a true culinary wizard, her roasts have iconic status in the family and her cakes are supreme but alas a rarity these days as she tries to pare me down to athletic slimness.

I've given the camera a rest over the last couple of days so here's a picture of some ducks just to brighten the place up a bit.
Moving on tomorrow if the weather improves a bit.

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

A quick post about Chester, with some historical notes.

Well hooray, blogger has resurfaced, on Thursday night I put together the most delightful post ever and then blogger crashed, all my artistic talents wasted, the path of genius is a hard one to travel, especially for one as modest as I. But here is a quick precis:-
It was all about Chester, our favourite city,

This clock commemorates Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, she was a game old bird, bless her.
It's the only place I know where the shopping is on two levels,

 one row at ground, or basement, level and the other above them and then living accomodation above that. Most of the buildings are relatively new (Victorian-ish) but frequently the lower levels are medieval and now it's pedestrianised. Even I can put up with shopping here.
Thursday evening we strolled down to Northgate Locks, standing in the by-wash with his eye set for passing tiddlers was
a heron, now Jill is desperate to get a good photo' of a heron, but I had the camera.........

It's difficult to get a shot of the locks as they are under a road bridge and at an awkward angle but this is the one of the bottom gates, doesn't it have splendid foliage?

Paddle gear, it's not as complicated as it looks, the left hand set is padlocked so you only have the other to worry about.

Above the locks the canal runs along under the old city walls, in places through a neatly carved cut

and in others a rough hewn gorge.
Chester is steeped in history going back to the Romans and towering above the canal is King Charles'
tower.

from where, in 1645, King Charles the First watched that arch criminal and villain Cromwell defeat his army at Rowton Moor. Don't thing Cromwell set up our first democracy, he created a military dictatorship that Gadaffi would have been proud of and used it to acquire large quantities of land for his cronies, nasty bit of work all round. Actually old Chas. the 1st was a pretty unpleasant character so they probably deserved each other. End of history lesson.
Finally, as we walked beside the basin an angler was amazed when he caught

a goldfish, just goes to show you never know what is under your boat.

STOP PRESS, as we journeyed back towards Beeston yesterday, just by Egg Bridge in Waverton, Jill took this shot, now I've heard of invasive foreign species

but what if that gets loose? It'll eat all the ducks!

Bridges, boats, castles, rain and much more. I do give value for money.

Monday we left Nantwich and headed off for points north. We crossed the elegant cast iron aqueduct over the A534,

made a stop at the water point to top up. This was most handy as the clothes drawer was starting to look a tad empty, so the washing machine was brought into action and really earned its keep.
The plan was to go as far as Whartons Lock and have a day there. From here on the canal widens out as we were now on the broad Chester Canal,

you no longer have to aim quite so carefully through the bridges as they are nearly twice as wide. There was very little traffic moving, we have been surprised so far this year at how quiet the canals have been, even over the bank holidays there were few boats. Financial situation? Approaching Hurleston Junction you get a glimpse of  the cars graveyard,

every time we pass this way they seem to have piled another layer on.

Hurleston Junction, start of the Llangollen Canal and not a boat moving on the locks. As we approached Barbridge Junction we passed this absolute stunner,

I know nothing about her but her owner should get an award, the amount of work that must go into keeping a wooden cruiser in tip top condition! You could drown in the gloss of her varnish and so, sir or madam, we salute you for keeping a waterways icon immaculate. Should have said before, she's called Tamburo.

Barbridge Junction and the Middlewich Arm, not going that way at the moment, we're saving that for a week or two.
At the top of Bunbury Locks we joined up with Honey Street, a time share heading in our direction so we had help down the staircase locks, Tilstone Lock,

and the first of the charming little circular lengthsmans huts with the incongruous chimney sticking up from the apex of the conical roof. By Beeston Iron Lock the heavens had opened so at the moorings above Wharton's Lock we gave up and moored, rapidly battened down the hatches and decided it was weather fit only for ducks.

"Why pick on me? I think it's lousy as well",

"Have you seen the size of these raindrops?"

Beeston Castle, lowering over the plain on its rocky crag, was starkly outlined against the clouds.

On Tuesday it looked a lot less threatening but still seemed a formidable fortification, let's put it this way, I wouldn't fancy trying to leg it up the hill wearing a tin suit and waving a sword while the opposition, sitting on top behind big walls, heaved blooming great rocks down at me.

Aaahhh, bless, dear of them, yes, the first cygnets we've seen this year. Ooohhh, aren't they cute? etc.

I prefered this genuine steam powered narrow boat, unfortunately there was no one on her so I couldn't have a nose at the engine room, wonder how they get on in Harecastle Tunnel? That night we had dinner in the Shady Oak, it being our forty-second wedding anniversary. Not a bad meal at all.
On the way to the pub we passed this owl box, thoughtfully provided to encourage an increase in owl numbers, unfortunately,

no one had told this pigeon and it's mate who it was intended for. Luxury apartment at low rent? Social Housing? Who can say?
Today we moved on to Chester and as once again I had mislaid the spare battery there are no pictures. It was a pleasant trip, although Chester Locks don't improve with keeping, hard graft they are. Moored next to Tescos and went to the Old Harkers Arms for lunch, a sign outside said NO children so it was up in my estimation already and then twelve, honestly, twelve real ales and I was in love. A steak and kidney pudding (Known in the navy as a babys head), a sticky toffee pudding and three pints of Titanic Stout later I had mellowed to an unbelievable degree. Tomorrow it's shopping, not my favourite pastime but Chester is so perfect for it that even an old curmudgeon like me won't complain, perhaps I can wangle lunch in The Albion.

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

We meet fellow bloggers.

The shopping is done and the decision taken, definitely going to Chester. We were thinking of moving this morning but as it was blowing a hooley we decided to stay put, tomorrow will do. To be honest by the time we had finished our compulsory Sunday breakfast, full English, it was a bit late to set off.
We didn't bother with the camera yesterday, one Morrisons looking much like another, but there were a couple of photo's left over from Friday.

The parish church dominates the centre of the town, the old churchyard has been opened out to give a large open area, one of the better town centre improvements I have seen.

It doesn't show up so well but these Elizabethan buildings sag and lean in the most alarming fashion, but there again, so do I and I'm nowhere near their age.
We made the normal visits to Clewlows the butchers and Sea Breezes the fish shop down Pepper Street, they actually had Arbroath smokies, cost an arm and a leg but nothing worth having comes cheap.
Today we were delighted to make the acquaintance of the other Graham and Jill, those off of Matilda Rose,

they are moored at the other end of the embankment and knowing we were in the vicinity had walked up to make themselves known. Hope the back soon recovers Jill.
It has been claimed that I have back trouble, my dear lady says it's difficult to get the mattress off it.
Hopefully the wind may have ameliorated somewhat tomorrow and it will be us off northwards.

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

Half timbering and a clock at Nantwich.

Now tucked in nicely at Nantwich, south of the aqueduct and an expedition through the housing estate led us to a footbridge over the Weaver,

a rather more substantial river here than it is at Brine Pits where we saw it yesterday. It also turned out to be a  shorter route into town, rather than up to the aqueduct and then up Welsh Row. Along the route we traversed this road for a while,

makes you wonder what the locals do for a living.

The town centre was buzzing with the locals taking advantage of the fine weather to go all continental and enjoy lunch al fresco.

Sweet Briar Hall, that is just a beautiful name for a glorious half timbered building. It dates back to the late fifteenth century and is on of the few buildings that survived the fire of 1583 that devastated the town.

This clock, it really is a clock and, contrary to the general rules that govern public clocks, it was keeping perfect time.

We'd never tried The Vine before and it turned out to be a good choice, Hydes Ales from Manchester and the sarnies were spot on, it's up Hospital Street and worth a punt for lunch if you're ever in Nantwich.
Tomorrow is shopping, down to one bottle of red and now out of gin. We'll probably get some food as well. Then it will be decision time, which way do we go from here.

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

Walking in Cheshire, including some entomology.

Dangerous things maps. They show footpaths that look intriguing but finding them on the ground can be challenging. This morning it was mooted that we should go for a walk so after perusing the O.S. for the area we set off, cross country following a footpath that was somewhat obscure,

this was one of the more obvious stiles, it's amazing how persistent the thorns are and below was a nice bed of stinging nettles.

Rumex obtusifolius, that's a dock to most of us, rubbed on the urticaria resulting from pushing my knee into the nettles and it actually offered relief, so it does work. Jill said it was just that I've got a hide like a rhino so it doesn't count.
The footpath then crossed a field planted with a cereal, no idea which but it did show how desperate we are for rain.

How long before there is talk of lock closures due to lack of water?

According to my Readers Digest field guide to butterflies and other insects of Britain (1984) this is a speckled wood, I was just amazed that it stayed still long enough for me to focus on it.
The path took us down into the valley of the Weaver at Brine Pits Farm,

a far different river from that which flows through Northwich.

I am truly chuffed with this photo, the first damsel fly we've seen this year, it's a male beautiful demoiselle, (Thank you Readers Digest).
While we are on the subject of insects,

I had no idea what these little fellows are, they were on stinging nettles and encased in a pouch of fine web.
But hooray for my trusty field guide, it just came up trumps again, they would seem to be small tortoiseshell caterpillars.
It didn't start out as a nature ramble, we just kept on falling over these things.
Back at Austins Bridge we were leaning on the field gate, quietly contemplating the countryside when we found that we had become an object of fascination for some local inhabitants,

so we stared back for a while but we cracked before they did, you just can't out stare a cow.
Actually it was a most pleasant walk through a bit of England we would never have seen had we not lived on the boat, circumambulating the waterways.
Nantwich tomorrow?

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

Coole Pilate.

Is that pie-lar-tees as in an odd exercise routine or pilot as in aeroplane jockey? Never have worked it out. Never mind, they are reasonably pleasant moorings although inclined to get a little crowded. Today everyone has carefully left the obligatory half boat length between each boat so taking up enough space for probably another three boats but you wouldn't want to moor right next to another boat, goodness only knows who might be on it, could even be one of those awful continuous cruisers and we all know what they are like.
It must have taken us all of ninety minutes, including watering, to get here from Audlem, but we did have to brave the Audlem white water course,

those old canal builders had a sense of humour. A new boater told us that they had tried three times to get into the lock but they kept being pushed into a log (Out of sight in this picture, below the wall on the left) and were upset at being unable to get into the lock without hitting it. We sympathised most deeply with them, we didn't like to tell them that that was why the log was there and the art was to bounce off it, then off the wall and so into the lock, we felt they might think it was a bit uncouth to bounce boats about like that.
I suspect tomorrow will be a day spent starting spring cleaning, the amount of dust that accumulates from the stove over the winter is unbelievable and I have yet to tackle sweeping the chimney, wonder if I can get away with a days fishing?

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