We are moving back to what we know as "The Tesco Moorings" in Chester. But it was raining heavily when we emerged in the mornibg so we waited a bit to see what happened and the rain did lighten and the forecast was promoising. So we set off at about 9:30 with the intention of stopping for water at Tower Wharf. nb Noah's Ark passed and offered to make up a pair for the Northgate staircase locks which we accepted gladly. They are large heavy gated locks and necessarily slow as there are three chambers all of which have to be set up correctly at the start. So by the time we were ready so were the locks. The top two chambers had been filled and the bottom emptied for us. As we emptied the middle one into the bottom it became apparent that we were short of the required level and I had the impression that all was not well - we might even be gowing down again. Sure enough, the bottom paddle had not been closed properly. Virtuaqlly immediately after leaping up and rectifying this the next gates were being opened and I felt sure that we would not get over the cill of the middle chamber being at least 30 inches down. However, we did and the next fill from the top made us much less lower than I expected. So the moral is that there must be a lot of leeway for doing things wrong in the design.
We carried on hoping for a mooring past the pub, but had to return to the visitor moorings by the city walls. There we met some homeless gents who had pitched a tent in a weedy alcove. They were complaining bitterly that there was nothing in the system for them but the immigrants got everything. A dog of theirs - a puppy in fact had been savaged by another and they had received help from the police and free veterinary care for the animal. Pat felt sorry and bought a couple of tins of dog food for them. After our shopping expedition a space further on had become available. There are many bars and some nightclubs along the canal street by the waterfront. There are reports of problems and perhaps a Friday or Saturday night might be problematic. We spent a very quiet Monday and Tuesday nights here.
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