Trying to get to Liverpool

It's strange how sometimes things don't turn out how you expect.  

We decided to go to Liverpool for a Skeptics in the pub event run by the Mersey Side Skeptics, who produce one of our favourite pod casts.  We had the route all mapped out and then found one of the canals we needed to use was closed so we changed our plan and have gone to Ellesmere Port and will use public transport for the last leg.

At Chester we found the Staircase lock was closed for repair preventing us from getting to Ellesmere Port.

Chester is an old Roman City so we weren't too concerned as the lock was due to open on the Sunday, so we decided to stay the extra days.

On the Thursday night we moored in a trendy area of Chester and had the worse night of our trip so far.  The drunks were out annoying the boaters (rocking the shit out of them in the middle of the night).

On the Friday we moved out of Chester a short way to wait for the locks to open.

We enjoyed the next few days exploring the City of Chester. The races were on and all the Ladies were frocked up with their facinators on.

We decided to use some of the extra time to look for some new curtains as the ones in the boat are quite manky. We looked around to see if we could get some replacements made.  Turns out made to measure curtains are very expensive and the lead time varies from 4 to 8 weeks which didn't really suit as who knows where we will be then.  

Once the locks reopened we continued towards Ellesmere Port. We didn't travel far as we wanted to visit Chester Zoo on the Monday.  We moored up near the road to the Zoo and and got chatting to a couple and their children who would like to buy a boat.  They gave us directions to the best pub in town which was a couple of miles walk away.  A bit later on the way to the pub Phil popped up at one of the bridges.  "its your lucky day" he said "I'm a black cab driver, I'll take you to the pub".  How could we refuse.  He dropped us off then vanished.  We had a great meal and a few Pints before walking back to the boat.

Monday we spent all day at Chester Zoo and managed to see everything except some of the Monkeys.  We had ummed an arred about the price of the ticket but it was well the worth the price.  Excellent Zoo.

Tuesday we finally made it to Ellesmere Port and are moored in the basin with the exhibits of the Waterways museum (we are a temporary exhibit).  

Our first night walking around Ellesmere Port we thought "oh no what the hell have we done here".  It's a working class area with lots of industry and the town is a bit like Footscray, securely locked up at night.  
This morning we had to do a few domestic duties.  We went to what we thought was a laundrette but turned out to be a laundry.  We had a chat to the old lady running the place and surprise surprise she had relatives in Australia.  She said "ah just leave your bag here I'll do the washing for you. Won't even cost you a tenner".  (Thats a win).

Later in the day after wandering around the town Ken spotted a lady in a disused shop near the dock who appeared to be a making curtains.  We knocked on her door to enquire of her services. (She has a brother living in Williamstown). Turns out Martha can make new curtains for us by Friday for a third of the price the shops have quoted.  So we have locked in our order.

Here are our photos for this week.  Hopefully we will get a better video of Chester on our way back through to Birmingham next week.  (Have had alot of wind noise problems)

Coming into Chester

Camping in the Bush.

Chester Market Cross

Street Scene Chester

Street Scene Chester

Chester - Above the streets - Medieval Buildings.

Chester - Looking out above the Streets from the Medieval Buildings

Chester City Wall

Club Cricket. Chester.

New Housing Estate. Chester.

Monkey - Chester Zoo

Pink Flamingos. Chester Zoo.

Horse Stables for the Canal horses.

Unusual boat.

Canalside Pub.

Horse stables at Ellesmere Port Museum. (For Lindsay)

We're and exhibit.

Nice when your filling hose matches the water tower.

Air Bus Planes flying over every day.

• Locks this week 20
• Travelled 20 Miles
• Average of 2.9 Miles per day