Chester Basin

Warning- lots of mundane detail of our day to day life on board in this post.

Prior to setting off Will opened the weed hatch and removed a couple of sections of plastic tape the propeller had picked up. The water was full of sediment so he couldn't see what he was doing. It was also cold enough to be painful if he kept his hands submerged too long. Our luck held out until we reached the outskirts of Chester, when the propeller suddenly emitted a nasty clanging noise and the engine ground and began to falter. Adrift in the middle of the canal it was Vicky's turn with the weed hatch. To her dismay she felt a thick wire she thought might be a bicycle spoke. It turned out to be a fishing umbrella, complete with fabric. Will managed to get us into the side and as Vicky snapped, pulled and untwisted the thing from on the deck, he used a boat pole with hook to drag the rest out from below, onto the bank.

Thankfully it wasn't too long before we pulled up in Chester Basin. Our spirits were lifted when we were able to nab the last space left on the quieter grassy side.

Having done the touristy things on our last visit, we focused on the facilities the city could offer us this time. At the post office Will sent the drone controller off for repair and we picked up a couple of large bags of kibble for the dogs. We feed them a dried food called Percuro, made from insects to avoid supporting the low welfare meat industry and to reduce the carbon footprint. Next was the newsagents to pick up ebay orders of charcoal to filter our drinking water as well as some charcoal pouches to help dehumidify the bedroom. We've yet to see how effective they are but they don't use any power and are safe for the furries so we thought they were worth a go.

A few weeks back the diamond had fallen out and been lost from Vicky's engagement ring. On our last visit we'd found a nice replacement among the cluster of jewellery shops in and around The Rows. We'd ummed and ahhed but finally decided to go ahead and get it, which made us both happy.

We tired ourselves out walking/carrying the dogs to the out of town shopping centre along a busy and dirty main road. Pets at Home didn't have a harness suitable for Tiger (one she won't slip out of if she happens to fall at locks), nor did they have nail scissors suitable for Abby (at 14 her claws don't retract well and she often gets hooked on fabric). The lithium ion battery of our mifi has expanded worryingly but Curry's didn't seem to have more than one device and the staff, who looked like students, were more interested in catching up on the latest gossip than helping us. We were pretty fed up, but happily Homebase saved the day by selling us several things that had been on our shopping list for quite some time. Leo and Tiger also got Vicky some lovely violas for mothers' day (aren't they thoughtful 😉).

One of the great things about Chester Basin is that you can get to the Water Tower Gardens without going near any roads. Leo could therefore walk all the way. In these gardens is a bowling green with nice short grass. Leo went wild, racing back and fourth, really loving the wide open space and soft ground. With his little legs and bald belly he doesn't find it pleasant walking through grass that has been left to grow, so this was a real treat for him.

On one side of the basin were student halls. Considering it was Friday and Saturday nights they didn't make much noise but they made enough to unsettle Leo, which led to a couple of nights of broken sleep for us.

On the other side of the basin was a branch leading to the River Dee. This is one of the Inland Waterways Silver Propeller locations -if you visit 20 of these little used stretches you can claim a special plaque. We would have gone but the branch was closed for repairs for another month. Never mind, with a whole network to explore we'll come across another opportunity before too long.Read more