Chester, Lock Trouble and Retracing Our Steps

We spent a few wonderful days in the beautiful city of Chester, and what a delight it was. There is something rather special about arriving somewhere by narrowboat and finding yourself moored right in the heart of a city, yet still feeling as though you are tucked away in your own little world.

Chester certainly didn’t disappoint. From the ancient city walls and fascinating history to the wonderful shops and, of course, the famous Rows with their unique two-level shops and beautiful timber-framed buildings, there was plenty to explore. Our mooring was incredibly convenient — right in the centre of everything — but, despite being in the middle of a busy city, it was surprisingly peaceful and very safe. It made the perfect base for exploring on foot.

One of our favourite discoveries was St John’s Church, one of Chester’s oldest and most fascinating buildings. The church dates back to the late 11th century and stands on the site of the Roman Basilica, making it a place where Chester’s history really comes alive. The church has seen centuries of change, with parts of the medieval building still remaining today. The “dust to dust” coffin at St John’s Church in Chester is a rare medieval solid-oak coffin hollowed out from a single tree trunk, embedded high up into the stone wall of the ruined eastern chapels. Discovered by a sexton during grave-digging in the 19th century, it was placed into the masonry by order of the local rector, with the words “Dust to Dust” later painted inside in a Victorian Gothic style.

We also explored the remains of the Roman amphitheatre and found Minerva’s Shrine, a small rock-cut shrine dedicated to the Roman goddess Minerva. It is thought to date from the 2nd century and is one of those little pieces of history that you could easily walk straight past without realising what you were looking at and amazing that after nearly 2000 years it is still in its original position.

Then there was Chester Racecourse , The Roodee — The name Roodee comes from the Old English word “Rood”, meaning cross, and “Eye”, meaning island — essentially, the Island of the Cross.

And that leads to one of Chester’s strangest legends.

According to the story, a statue of the Virgin Mary supposedly fell on and killed Lady Trawst while she was praying for rain. The locals decided to put the statue on trial for murder.

Yes — you heard that correctly.

The statue was found guilty and sentenced to death.

After a few days of wandering around Chester, shopping, sightseeing and generally enjoying city life, it was time to turn And Away around and retrace our route.

Our plan was to head back towards Beeston Castle, where we had hoped to find one of those idyllic, scenic canal moorings. Sadly, the canal gods had other ideas and there was no room at the inn — or, more accurately, no suitable mooring!

And then came Lock 10.

What should have been a fairly straightforward lock turned into a rather long adventure. The lock was leaking so badly that, during the final four feet of filling, it was emptying almost as quickly as it was filling. We sat there for over an hour, wondering quite how we were going to get the top gates open.

Thankfully, a few very helpful gongoozlers came to our rescue. With their help, and a fair bit of patience, we eventually managed to get the top gate open and And Away through. Another canal adventure to add to the collection!

From there we continued back towards Barbridge, where we spent a few days before moving on to Nantwich. While there, we caught up with fellow vlogger Darren aboard Sloop John B, which was lovely. It’s always great to meet people we’ve chatted with through the boating and vlogging community and finally put faces to names.

And then, of course, the rain arrived.

Now, normally we’d be complaining about the British weather, but we’re actually rather pleased to see it. The canals have been desperately in need of some rain, so we’ll happily take a few wet days if it means helping to replenish the waterways.

There is a very good reason we’re retracing our steps rather than continuing off in a completely new direction. And Away needs to head back towards the Trent & Mersey Canal, via the Middlewich Branch, because at the end of September we are heading back to Narrowboats Ltd to have And Away lifted out for blacking.

So, for the moment, we’re enjoying a slightly slower pace around Nantwich. Between the rain, shopping trips, topping up the water and generally getting a few jobs done, we’re expecting to hang around here for another week or so.

Then we’ll turn And Away onto the Middlewich Branch, heading towards new waters and the next chapter of our journey.

Sometimes cruising the canals isn’t about constantly discovering somewhere new. Sometimes you have to retrace your steps, deal with a stubborn lock, wait for the rain and simply enjoy where you are.

And after Chester, a leaky lock and a few days around Nantwich, we’re quite happy doing exactly that.

Until next time… keep following And Away!