23 June

The temperature was warmer than Hikuai when we woke and steadily climbed through the day. It must have broken 20C during the afternoon as we were wandering around in our tee shirts.

The Park and Ride service is a good way to get to town. It's operated by Stagecoach, the same group that runs the ferries and many of the buses in Auckland. It was interesting to compare the operations. In Auckland we have the electronic AT cards to make things easier to get people on and off the bus by waving a prepaid card at a monitoring unit. Here, you have to go to a machine, or a teller to buy a ticket. It's handed to the driver who punches it with a punch or a set of clippers. There's obviously no technology transfers within the Stagecoach organisation.

We headed off to the market as it was meant to be antique market on Tuesdays. It turned out to be four stalls within the normal market and was very limited. Jim & Lynette then split up to do their own thing.

Jim went to the Cheshire Military Museum. It was all about the Cheshire based regiments. He spent more time talking to the guy on duty at the till than wandering around the museum. It was very interesting to hear about the support process that the British Army now use for the families of those soldiers killed or significantly injured. It's not uncommon for the family of a disabled soldier to have a regular liaison soldier assigned to them for up to nine months. The government also picks up the bill for a lot of transport and other costs relating to visiting a badly injured soldier.

His next stop was the Grosvenor Museum. There were three floors of displays but Jim limited himself to the ground floor because of his wonky knee. There was a reasonable collection of Roman material there.

He then wandered along the shops, at the second level. The buildings often have a ground level set shops and a second level that runs almost the length of the street too. The second levels are known as a Row Galleries and named eg St Michael's Row.

We then met up at St Peter's church for lunch and then Jim wandered across town looking for an antique shop that was listed on one of the maps. He got to the end of City Rd and found the train station but not the antique shop. Then he went to the EE mobile phone shop to sort out his phone as it wouldn't let him send texts or phone anyone, even though he had plenty of data. There was no way to fix that so he bought a new SIM card with another bundle of data, text and phone minutes. Luckily it was only UKP10. The EE network claims to have 98% coverage on the 3G network and 80% coverage on their 4G network but it doesn't work nearly as well as at home. Even in the EE shop, the internet access was pathetic. We are extremely lucky in NZ to have a better coverage and a much better data backbones for getting onto the internet.

Jim then went to the Dewa experience. Dewa is the name that the Romans gave to Chester. It was a reasonable display, and covered different aspects to the Grosvenor Museum, but Jim felt that it didn't match up to the Carlisle Museum.

Jim went back to the boat and lay down for a rest, only to be woken by Marks and Spencers calling to say that they had found Lynette's camera. Obviously she'd had another camera experience. Jim sent her a text and the camera was recovered thanks to a very honest finder. She was just so relieved. Lynette needs to go back to M & S on Thursday to speak to Sarah to find out who returned it so that she can give them a reward.

Often in the UK public toilets have a machine which dispenses soap, water and dries hands automatically. A great saving on hand towels and less chance of litter. The toilet is meant to automatically flush and clean after you exit the door. From the condition of the only working toilet this morning it is plain to see that the cleaning mechanism is far from satisfactory. In the public toilets off Frodsham St there is also an automatic toilet paper dispenser. A public toilet under the Grosvenor Shopping Centre has an automatic soap and water but no instructions how to get the drier to work.

Lynette called into the Information Office to get instructions for the nearest post office and took time to advise them that the rubbish bin on the canal near bridge 122 was full and overflowing. It was just like when she phoned the RSPCA about the swan with the fishing hook in its beak. The personnel at the Information Centre carefully explained that the canal and the towpath were owned by British Waterways/Canal and River Trust and was nothing to do with the city of Chester. We had seen several small villages and towns where the inhabitants were very proud of their areas and had volunteers who regularly worked on their areas of the canal, cutting the grass and clearing any rubbish. In the city centre they have big square rubbish bins with solar panels on the top and dedicate people wandering around picking up rubbish. A few rubbish bins along the canal would be much appreciated. Whenever we remember Chester we will think of the amazing old buildings and the rubbish along the canal and some of the streets.

The postmistress gave Lynette instructions of how to get down to the canal basin. Of course there was no easy way between the houses. Eventually she made her way down to the towpath on one side of the canal basin. It was clear why we had been warned against going through the five locks to the basin. There is nothing at the basin for narrow boats unless they are wanting repair facilities. The towpath is some way from the city centre so energy used for those locks would be a waste of time. Instead we moored between bridges 120 and 121 which is a very pleasant part of the canal. Making her way back to the city centre Lynette thought she had better check that she was heading the correct way along Canal St so asked a woman coming down. She was local but had no idea and could not read a map. Lynette carried on and 15 metres along the Bull & Stirrup Tavern was in view which meant that she was almost back in the city centre. This is not the first time that we have come across a local who does not known their own area.

On a visit to the cathedral Lynette discovered that there was a children's service so checked out surrounding areas. Back at the cathedral by noon and there were people waiting for the service to finish. The cathedral was packed with school children. It was a service for all the children in the area who would be going on to what we know as intermediate. They all behaved very well but with the sheer number it took time for them to exit the cathedral and Lynette and the others were then able to go inside. Parts of it dated from the 11th century. It is on the site of St Werburgh's Abbey which was founded for Benedictine monks in 1092. Now it is C of E and known as Cathedral of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Very large and contains a number of family burial vaults. Lynette found it just too big and preferred the church at Nantwich, which is in the Chester parish.

Lynette also wanted to do the Cathedral Height Tour which means going right up into the tower and behind all the secret places up there. A good view of the Chester area is promised on a fine day. The 30 min short tour was scheduled for 4.15pm so after lunch Lynette decided to walk the the Roman Wall which encompasses the inner city and is 2km long. The Eastgate Clock section of it is being repaired. A very interesting walk which took Lynette 3hrs by the time she had stopped at all the interesting noted points as well as others like overlooking the canal, the canal basin, Queen's School, Chester Racecourse (oldest racecourse in Britain), the Roman Gardens and the River Dee to take photos. By the time Lynette got to the end she discovered she would not have time to reach the cathedral for the tower tour so she went into M & S and that is where she inadvertently left her camera. On Thursday she needs to go back there to see Sarah to find out who had handed it in so she can reward them.

An antique double deck bus outside the Town Hall

There are churches all over the place

Buildings are squeezed in everywhere

The town cryer doing his thing 

It's good to see a modern caption on a building 

The mill has gone but the advertising is still there 

Houses on City Rd 

Unusual windows 

The Infirmary was established in the 1790's 

A swing bridge over the canal.  You pull the handle and then push the bridge out of the way so that you can sail past.

A 16th century pub still in use.  Note the sagging roof.  

The cathedral 

The first Duke of Westminster is buried here 

The River Dee 

A gate on the Roman city wall 

A cormorant in the sun 

A bridge over the River Dee 

You can see how tall the wall is.  In Roman times it was probably another 2 - 3 metres taller as that's how far the Roman remains are below today's surface.

A watch tower on the wall 

A quaint, but more recent, building