We left for Ellesmere port at 11:00am, and finally arrived at 12:07pm - it's much further than it seems on a map, and even though it's only 7 miles, its still a long way at 4mph. This end of the canal is very quiet, and with so few boats moored along the towpath reminds me a lot of boating in the '80s. Just as we were about to arrive in the basin a boat came through the bridge at the end, and I put the brakes on. He waved me through the second to last bridge (about 80 foot from the last one), and we swapped position here. I turned the boat around above the locks, and moored up in front of another boat already at the port.
We had a good look around the museum. Unfortunately the engines weren't running - I assume they only run on the weekend/special events. It's quite sad to see the wooden hulks slowly rotting at the back of the museum, but I guess there is only so much time and money. I quite liked the old dock houses made to look like different eras (60's, 40's, 20's, and 1900's). I had a little play with the hydraulic crane, and after looking around the rest of the boats we were feeling rather hungry since we hadn't had lunch and it was 3:30pm. We had some sandwiches in the museum visitor centre, and then we headed back to Chester. It took 3.5 hours to get back to where we moored in Chester, though this time it even more full with boats, and squeezed on the end just before the bridge with a mooring pin hit into the tarmac edge. I smelled the really nice smell near Iceland, and this time managed to find where it was coming from - a Chinese restaurant in the same building. It was a posh place, but did take-away, and I had barbecue ribs, and duck with plum sauce - Dad had chips, and grilled a chicken breast on the boat to go with them! I also finally got my new mobile to work with my computer. I didn't release that the E71 doesn't have Network Access Protocol and you have to connect to it as a bluetooth modem. The Nokia software that came with it didn't work so I had to download the new version, but Dad has a 3g phone with Orange, so with the £1 deal managed to download it OK. I also later found out the connection details so that I can use Vista's dial up networking, for information: Telephone Number: *99# Username: guest Password: guest Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
