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I would also say don't moor much more south than Curdworth, the visitors moorings are, as said, quiet but the high banks and trees take away a lot of light. When we passed two weeks ago, we were the only boat moored there. I saw that south of Curdworth bridge some new (to us) piling was placed, that could also be useful for mooring I guess. Curdworth has a small shop and PO within walking distance, go up Curdworth bridge, cross the road and continue a couple of hundreds of yards, the shop is on the left. Here is an impression of the cutting south of the tunnel, the bollards are for waiting for the one-way tunnel. Oh and Minworth Locks need an anti-vandal key Helen

:lol: (I once saw one on ApolloDuck that had leopard dots painted all over... NO WAY was the answer) Helen

Thanks for your answers. jelunga: we'll be on the boat next week, I'll try to find out what material the cover is made from and take it from there. Burgiesburning: The boat may still look shiny in the photo, but in reality the paint has chalked (if that is the right word) and has become dull. No surpise as it is the original paint from when the boat was built in 2000. And besides that, rust is spreading, not on a large scale, but still. We are not in a hurry for a repaint, we are discussing colour schemes, and looking at other boats to see what we like and what not. My husband has never really liked green boats (and ended up owning one) so we'll probably change the colour. Jo_: good suggestion, will follow that up. Thanks again, Helen

As you can see in these photo's, our boat is green with a lighter green cratch cover. The boat is to be repainted next year or so, and we are thinking of having it painted something like grey or dark blue. The green cover would not look good with these colours. The cratch cover is in good condition and it would seem a shame to throw it away, so the question is: can we change its colour to black or dark blue? I was thinking of the dye one uses for clothes. Or is a new cover the only solution? Helen

Thank you for showing me how a side pond works. I didn't know that they could (and should) be used, I left them well alone, afraid to waste a lot of water if I did something wrong. Now I know how they work, I will use them in the future. Helen

In Stourport there is a Tesco Metro, near bridge 5A. And a Lidl or Aldi as well. And there is a Tesco Express in Cookley. Moor at the west end of Cookley tunnel, climb up the hill and turn right. Helen

We also went the other way, leaving Stourport at 8:00 and mooring at Hanbury Wharf at 17:00, so 9 hours in total, including filling the water tank at the waterpoint next to Netherwich Basin and a quick trip to Waitrose in Droitwich but no other breaks. Helen

In 1997 we had to cancel our holiday in a French gîte because my mother was in hospital. It was a tough time and the next year we decided that we deserved a special treat, so we booked a boating holiday. Why? I don't really know, we knew narrowboats existed, I had seen some when I was in England for work, but we knew nothing about them. I think the attraction was that it gave us much freedom and a chance to do 'something different'. We booked a widebeam, the reason being that we found the double bed on a narrowboat too narrow. Our first trip was from Adelaide Dock on the GU, up the Paddington arm, through Camden, Regent's Canal to the Lee and Stort, where we turned. This is not the most attractive route but... we were hooked. Our children, then 4 and 6, loved it just as much as we did and this was the start of yearly holidays on a boat. And a narrowboat from now on, to overcome the narrow bed we hired boats with 4-6 berths so we could make up an extra bed if we wanted more space. We often asked the children if they wanted an other kind of summer holiday, like going to Spain or Greece (not that we wanted that, but we did not want to go boating with two unwilling kids on board) and they were outraged that we dared ask that question: 'It had to be on a boat and nothing else!'. Since April last year we have our own boat, we are loving it, and yes, we have a wide bed. Helen

Thank you all for your replies and your suggestions for good moorings and the kind offer of a lift. I've marked the locations of the moorings in Nicholsons for future use. Perhaps I have listened to the wrong people, we were warned about other places as well, and we never had problems, just slept a bit lighter. Thanks again, Helen

In a couple of weeks time we'll have to leave the boat overnight (just the one night) in the Bedworth/Nuneaton area. Having heard some unfavorable stories about this area I worry whether it is wise decision to leave the boat on a visitor mooring along the towpath. What would you do, are there safe moorings or are we better off in a marina, and if so which one? We will be using a taxi as means of transport, so the mooring must be near a road. Helen

Hi Francis, A reply from the other side of the country we both live in, we are in Zeeland, in the south-west. My first thought was the same as what Water Rat suggests. We have also hired for many years. We were fortunate that in those days fuel was included in the hire price. I'm not sure the hire bases were so glad with that as we cruised quite intensively. We found that we had to pay for all pump-outs, but the ones done in the additional weeks were reimbursed after we returned to the base. If you find someone to bring the boat back, make sure there are enough towels and beddingfor them. And think what you are going to do with your own used towels, assuming you use the ones provided by the hire company. I for one would not be keen on having the dirty washing of a stranger on board. And what about the cleaning and servicing of the boat that would normally be done after your two weeks? We are luckier than you, we have 10 weeks holiday a year (some years ago at my husbands work they handed in part of their salaries in exchange for more days off), we got bitten by the bug and now have our own boat, and we spend as much time as possible there. I hope the icy conditions will soon be over so we can go boating again. Good luck in finding a solution to your dilemma. Ik wens jullie alvast een heel fijne vakantie, geniet er van. Helen

We had the same experience in the 4 weeks we cruised in the summer, the only rain we got was when we went down The Bratch Locks and we had a slight shower just when we were moored up after the Tardebigge flight. People back home were surprised we had so much nice weather, the summer in The Netherlands was not so good.

Thanks to a kind member of this forum, I have now received the information I asked for. Many thanks for the quick response, Helen

Hi, Are there any members of this forum who are also member of the Stephen Goldsbrough Boat Owners Club? I need the address of one of the SGBOC-members so I can reply to a letter that was sent to me by that member. The address was on the back of the envelope, but I stupidly threw that away and the list of members is on the boat, a long way from home. If somebody could PM me I would be very grateful. I will not say who this person is on an open forum, but I will gladly offer our details in a PM before telling you whose address I need, so you can make sure that this is a genuine request. Thanks, Helen edited to add that I am a member of SGBOC myself, so if you have the list of addresses, you can check my details.

I think I saw them in the Canalshop at Braunston Bottom Lock

We are in the same situation, though we don't travel by air but in our car, using the Eurotunnel. We also have clothes and stuff like bedding and towels that stay on the boat. When we were searching for a (second hand) boat, a washing machine or plumbing for one allready in place was a must. When we hired, I washed some things by hand, but I did not see me doing that to sheets and duvetcovers, and as we only use the boat for holidays (4-5 times a year, mostly 2 weeks each time with at least 4 weeks in summer), sitting in a laundrette, and 'wasting time' there, is not appealing. We have a fullsized Hoover washer/dryer, most of the time the washing dries in the cratch area, but I'm very pleased with the dyer part, it takes care of the big pieces of cotton and makes it possible for us to travel 'light' and not have a pile of washing to tend to once we are back home.

From the list of stoppages on Waterscape, copied seconds ago... Stoppage: Oddys Locks 07 Nov 2011 - 21 Dec 2011 Associated Regional Office: North West Waterways Gate replacement works (Enquiries: 01923 201120)

Thanks Keith, I found it. I'm not on the boat at the moment, but on the computer we have lots of pictures of the boat, one of them is of the engine, clearly showing the label. Helen

What is the Beta Marine WOC 'K' number that Beta asks for and where can I find it? Helen

Nice guide, thanks

Thanks JDR, it is No Problem, have read the guide and found it very useful. Also thanks for the remarks from you and MoominPapa about the rainfall and river levels, we'll do some thinking and perhaps decide it is better to go elsewhere and leave the Nene for when we have more time and a better chance of dry weather. Helen

We are planning our October trip, we think of going from Brinklow (our home mooring) to Northampton and then onto the River Nene and back. Nicholson's doesn't seem to give much information for the river and we have no other guides. Can any of you enlighten us? Is it a good idea to go onto this river in October? Where are the good moorings, places for pump-outs, waterpoints etc.? Given the limited time available, we won't go far, we plan to do about 5 hours a day ( famous last words, up to now we always end up doing far more than that, but we promised each other to stick to the 5 hours and spend the rest of the day reading and pottering around). Thanks for your help, Helen

Last year on the Thames this WAS a bit too close for comfort. We were moored and this big cruiser came along and tried to moor in front of us. When they saw that their boat would'nt fit in, they decided to let it rest against the side of our bow. When we said that we were not sure whether the two boats touching like that was such a good idea, they shrugged and said it would be allright. They put in a fender , but that did not stop the steel and the 'plastic' (no offence, just don't know a better word) boats touching. Setting off the next morning was not as easy as one should wish, there was another cruiser moored right behind us, so we could not go in reverse to get the bow clear without hitting that boat. Pushing out the stern before going backwards proved diffcult, the current pushed us back, but in the end we managed with the help of the people of that boat, who pushed our stern out and kept it there.

In the beginning of August we went up the Droitwich canals. We entered them from the River Severn. The new lock landings looked smart, however the first couple of locks were overflowing badly and the pounds in between were very shallow. Uploaded with ImageShack.us The canal itself was very pretty, narrow because of the abundant reeds and again very shallow, we thought ourselves lucky that we met very few boats coming from the other direction, passing other boats was difficult, though with all boats going slowly all went well. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us The people in Droitwich were most friendly, almost glad to see boats on the canal, they opened the swing bridges for us, and were helpful with the liftbridge that is set over the middle of one of the locks. By the way, there is a Waitrose near the canal, but we found no moorings close to the shop. Uploaded with ImageShack.us URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/img42171.jpg/][/url] Uploaded with ImageShack.us The passage under the M5 is very low, we had to take off the chimney and the tv-antenna and we had to duck so we would not bang our heads, I wonder how it will be when the water level is back to normal. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us The Droitwich canals are beautiful and well worth a visit. In the July(?) isssue of Canal World is an up-to-date map of the canals, in a pull-out section.