Chester Canal

My morning walk starts and finishes along the towpath of the Chester Canal, which forms part of the Shropshire Union Canal. This characterful waterway was vital to the economy of the city from its inception in 1779 through to the end of the second world war. Today it supports a variety of leisure craft, traders and residential boats, and provides a scenic route for joggers, dog walkers, cyclists and pedestrians. The warehouses that line its banks as it enters the city have been developed as apartments and there are several cafes and pubs, including my own local, the Old Harkers Arms. The canal is also home to a lively community of ducks and the occasional swan. As it skirts the city centre, it runs through a deep, dramatic cutting in the red sandstone, alongside a section of the roman city walls, towards a staircase of locks that take it on towards Ellesmere Port. The section I walk every morning, pictured above, provides mooring for an ever changing population of narrowboats and their colourful occupants. Walking alongside them on a cold winter’s morning, as the smoke from their wood-burning stoves scents the air, is a quintessentially English experience and a wonderful way to start the day.