Underdressed in Chester

Cruising into Chester at twilight

Two years ago, following our last Narrowboat trip, we spent a week in the city of Chester, and really enjoyed it. While exploring the city we discovered that the canal runs right along the old city walls, so when planning this trip I worked Chester into it. After all, last time I was only able to visit about ten of the 50 pubs within the walled city.

Mooring by the city walls

This time, we cruised into the city and found a mooring spot right beside the city walls. A short walk along the canal and we went through the gate into the city. As soon as we found the old section of the city, we were surrounded by crowds of people all dressed up. Men in suits and women in evening gowns and high heels. Although it was pouring rain, no one was wearing raincoats, and only a few had umbrellas. It was cool, but most of the girls were dressed in just fancy dresses. This was not the Chester we recalled from two years ago. Looking for a place to eat was a challenge, as most places were packed and had long lines waiting.

Found a pub . . .

Finally finding a pub with a table for six, we asked what was going on. It was race weekend, and the big last horse race of the year at Chester Downs was tomorrow and everyone was celebrating.

Here we were all dressed for narrowboating in raingear (Yup, raining again today), so we really did not fit in with the crowds of race revelers in Chester this evening.