Ellesmere Port

Saturday was rather a subdued day - too much indulgence on Friday and celebrating Andy Murray winning the semi-final at 0130.  Nice meal in the evening with Michelle & Andrew and Matty & Kath - could not resist the fish stew again!  Took it easy on the juice.

Awoke Sunday to a glorious sunrise, much refreshed but a bit confused about what time breakfast was.

A Sunday banter's breakfast is a bit of a tradition and the Navigator had agreed to cater for us.  Was it 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock - and was that new time or old time?  Worked it out and enjoyed a more than full English to set us up for the rest of the day and the trip to Ellesmere Port for the Easter Boat gathering (by minibus - too far for going by boat).

The town of Ellesmere Port was founded as an outlet to the sea from Ellesmere, Shropshire and the Welsh border area around Llangollen via a canal initially called the Ellesmere Canal. The canal was designed and engineered by William Jessop and Thomas Telford as part of a project to connect the rivers Severn, Mersey and Dee. The canal connected to the Mersey in the village of Netherpool, and the basin was known as Whitby Locks. The section between Whitby Locks and Chester was opened in 1795, connecting two of the rivers; but the connection to the Severn was never completed.
The village of Netherpool gradually changed its name to the Port of Ellesmere, and by the early 19th century, to Ellesmere Port. Settlements had existed in the area since the writing of the Domesday Book in the 11th century, which mentions Great Sutton, Little Sutton, Pool (now Overpool) and Hooton. The first houses in Ellesmere Port itself, however, grew up around the docks and the first main street was Dock Street, which now houses the National Waterways Museum. Station Road, which connected the docks with the village of Whitby, also gradually developed and as more shops were needed, some of the houses became retail premises. As the expanding industrial areas growing up around the canal and its docks attracted more workers to the area, the town itself continued to expand.

By the mid-20th century, thanks to the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the Stanlow Oil Refinery in the 1920s, the town had expanded so that it now incorporated the villages of Great and Little Sutton, Hooton, Whitby, Overpool and Rivacre as suburbs.

The docks were still in use as late as the 1950's but now house the National Waterways Museum and each Easter a festival is held with dozens of working  and historic boats congregating. 

One of the forum members coming through a lock - I took the opportunity to get a bag of kindling.

 Various events are held throughout the weekend, including the tug of war

The site includes many historic boats and exhibits and includes Porters Row.  Originally built in 1833, the four cottages of Porters Row were, over the years, home to shipwrights, blacksmiths, railway workers and, of course, porters and their families.

Today the cottages recreate homes from the 1830s, 1900s, 1930s and 1950s - each with the decor and features of its time, from oil lamps to electric light and from coal-fired coppers to early hand-operated washing machines.

An excellent day out and back in time to see Andy Murray winning the Miami Open and moving up to world no 2.  While watching the tennis, I put a pie in the oven and it was ready just as the tennis finished.  Except it wasn't - the gas had run out  and my spare was already empty.  Could not believe I had used two full bottles in a week.  Perhaps they had not been full?  Apparently some boatyards with hire fleets attached have been known to swap full bottles with half empty ones from the hire boats!  But, I doubt that was the case.  Now I have the fire sorted, my future use should be considerably less but it is just too tempting to turn up the thermostat just above my head in bed and spend another half hour or so waiting for the radiators to warm up the boat.

The lack of cooking facilities was a good excuse for a visit to the pub and a very enjoyable Sunday roast.  Many thanks to Carol for rustling it up after the kitchen was supposed to be closed. Fortunately I have a travel kettle, so will not have to forego my morning cups of tea, although I usually have the kettle bubbling on the stove top antyway.

Probably take a short hop the couple of miles to Norbury Junction in the morning to get gas and replace Andrew's bag of coal.  I have been itching to have a little cruise the last couple of days, anyway but did not want to give up my good mooring spot.  Many boats have already left so there will be no mooring problems when I get back.