Chester and its Canal

On our way back from Blackpool we stopped off at Chester Fair Oaks for a few days. We were last here about four years ago but since that visit the toilet block has been fully refurbished to a very high standard and of interest to motorhomers the service point has been converted to an open grid.

 Having been here before we knew that the bus into Chester was a fair walk away, about a mile, at the Cheshire Oaks Shopping Centre but this is where we headed on our first full day on site. Something else that has changed is that Chester now has a rather smart new Bus Interchange. This was fortuitous as its only yards from the canal that we were about to explore.

 We joined the canal at the Lock Keepers pub and ducked under the bridge to join the towpath that follows the City Walls. We hadn’t gone far before discovering that our route was barred so we had to climb the Walls and follow the ramparts. The canal is in a deep cutting so I assume it is considered unsafe for walkers. We descended from the Walls at Northgate but still no access to the canal. We followed a road we that was adjacent to the canal and eventually found a gap with access to canal. By now the canal cutting had opened up a bit. A little further along the towpath we came upon the Northgate Locks which are slightly unusual in that they are in staircase form so the bottom gates of one lock form the top gates on the next one down. There are three in total. I got chatting to the volunteer lock keeper. Given that it was nearly 1.00pm he seemed a bit disappointed that he had still not had a boat through!

 The locks take the canal under the railway track and it curves round into the basin. Adjacent is the famous Telford Warehouse which is now a pub. A new development of apartments has been built in a similar style at ground floor level. Makes a change from forty or so years ago when people wanted to just fill canals in!!! Beyond the basin is a dry bock and a boatyard. There is also a lower basin accessed via a lock next to the dry dock. This part of the canal gives access to the River Dee.

 We retraced our steps to Northgate and made our way into the City Centre. Chester has a very fine City Hall and an equally fine Library next door. By now we needed some lunch so decided that perhaps Debenhams would be a good idea. Now the residents of Chester no doubt refer to this shop as Browns of Chester. Outside the lifts near the café is an interesting illustrated history of the shop from modest beginnings to the present day.

 Back to the Bus Interchange and the bus back to Cheshire Oaks. The X8 takes you via the Zoo on the way out of Chester. Certainly an interesting day. On the Saturday it was back to Cheshire Oaks as we needed a few food items and an opportunity to look round the shops. Being Saturday it was very busy and I was surprised how many people had dogs with them. It was bad enough at eye level so what it was like at knee or ankle level I dread to think! Hopefully they were not too traumatised. Shopping done we made our way back to the site. We got chatting to one of the site staff and I happened to mention that Sainsburys did not have my favourite newspaper. Her immediate reaction was to say that she was heading into Ellsemere Port and would I like her to try and find one for me. What a lovely gesture but as I explained I had just ordered the Sunday version and it usually takes me several days to work my way through!