England - August 2, 2014

This day was largely train travel to get from Ely to Chester where the canal boat trip was to start.  All went smoothly from Vic’s assistance getting my luggage to the correct platform in Ely, to the change of trains in Stockport where a lift was available as well as help from a local constable who provided directions getting to the right place in the 5 minutes between trains, to the arrival in Chester where there were lifts and a readily available taxi. 

I was very glad I had purchased the mobile phone because the place I was supposed to get on the boat changed twice from the original information provided.  Finding the correct location would have been far more difficult without the phone.

The taxi driver successfully delivered me to the location of the Duke and Duchess Hotelboats where I was met by the owner Allison and Andy, the captain, and shown to my (very small) cabin on the Duchess.  The Duke is the lead boat and the only one with an engine.  The Duchess is a butty, a boat pulled by another.  The original working canal boats often had a butty to provide living accommodations for the family operating the business while the engine boat carried the cargo and was the working boat.  Because we have 7 guests, one is sleeping on Duke; the other 6 of us are in Duchess in one double and four singles.  There is an American couple and their adult daughter from Texas (Ros, Bill, and Barrie), an English couple (Sally and Tony), an English woman (Estelle) and me.  All seemed nice as we chatted at dinner. 

The interior views are of the hallway down the side of Duchess and of my room (cabin 5) taken to the left and right from the doorway.  Under the towels is an opening into the wall for feet and legs so one can stretch out full length; not much room on the bunk to turn over.

Between arrival and dinner I took a short walk into Chester so I could say I’d seen a bit more of the town than the train station.  It’s a walled city so I went to the nearest bit of wall at the North Gate, passing the locks we’ll go through tomorrow as we start the boat trip, and walked up.  Took an “I was there” photo on the wall.

Walking back I noticed this strange bridge-like thing over the canal which, fortunately, had a tourist sign explaining what it was.  Called the Bridge of Sighs it connected the North Gate Gaol (jail) with the Chapel of Little John where condemned prisoners in the late 1800s might go for last rites before execution.  Originally it had metal railings; now it’s just leftover masonry.

We had dinner aboard Duke and chatted for awhile.  The other three Americans had only arrived in England this morning so were completely jet-lagged.  And the rest of us took their departure as a signal to go to our rooms, if not to bed.  An early night was fine with me.  My back seems to be holding up pretty well, but I don’t want to push things too much.