Shortly after our last blog and the epic sheep rescue, we arrived in Chester which was every bit as beautiful as we remembered it to be. We were even fortunate enough to be able to moor up a short five minute walk into the centre of the City.
On our first night we treated ourselves to a meal out at a Thai restaurant and we made sure that we paid a visit to the Boot Inn, which is a Samuel Smith’s pub, up in the stalls above the shops. Paul likes it there as the beer is cheap!
After spending a couple of days in the City, and feeling happy with the location, we locked Daisy up and caught the train back to Derby. This was the first time we have left her overnight on the towpath as we usually use a marina when leaving her overnight. We were both a bit anxious but were able to check in on her via the Amazon doorbell we have installed. To be fair, boats and boaters usually do get left alone unless you are very unfortunate.
The train ride back to Derby was an absolute dream. The scenery was beautiful and we managed to get decent table seats for Zak to hide underneath. As usual, he made lots of new friends and got lots of compliments.
Whilst back in Derby, we were able to catch up with a few friends and all four kids which was nice as we haven’t seen them all since Christmas.
We even got to pick Lily up from school and take her to play some crazy golf before taking her to Wagamamas for her favourite noodles.
And of course we made our way to Shrewsbury to see our friends Jason & Michelle finally tie the knot after 17 years! The wedding was truly amazing and Paul’s speech did them proud.
After catching up with everyone, we caught the train back to Chester to be reunited with Daisy and where we turned round to make our way back South up the Shroppie. We did contemplate going down to Ellesmere Port but decided against it as there is not much there.
We were assisted with the first five locks by our friend Baz and our new friend Julie, who is a frequent boater. Thank you ladies!
Today we have turned starboard on to the Llangollen (pronounced Clangollen) which will take us all the way into Wales. The locks are an absolute dream for me, all single locks that you can easily push open. The fierce by-washes are a bit more problematic for Mr Robinson though!
The weather continues to mostly be in our favour and the scenery continues to be stunning. We truly are grateful to be able to do what we are doing on our adventure and feel so lucky.
We are having to plan a bit more with the internet though and despite our best efforts, we were unable to find anywhere today with a decent signal. It’s such a shame that we have had to find a pub to watch the rugby 🏉 It means I can keep you all updated though!
We hope that all is well with you and we will be in touch again once we have traversed the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Please let us know how you are all doing!
Lots of love, Paul, Jo, Zak & Daisy xxxx
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