Stevev

I don't think Rosie (our Border Terrier) actually enjoyed it greatly since she's a quite a nervous dog and hated the locks if she was inside the boat...generally she wasn't a big fan of the boat quite honestly! Might go without her next time! It took until lunchtime today for us not to feel as if we were moving still slightly every time we sat still !!

First off, thanks to all had answered my questions over the last few weeks, invaluable! Headed off Saturday 2nd June from Alvechurch towards Birmingham at 4pm and moored overnight at Hopwood and had a nice meal at the Hopwood House pub. Sunday 3rd..rain, rain, rain and more rain....we went through Birmingham (Gas Street Basin deserted!), went down new Main Line and didn't see another boat at all...went through Netherton tunnel and were glad for the shelter from the rain...still no other boats and we kept going until we got to Merry Hill and moored past Green's Bridge with some other boats belonging to boat owners. It was so windy here our boat got blown across and pinned to the fence on the wrong side of the canal and some friendly chap jumped off his own boat and came to our rescue to help us moor. Ate in the Brewer's Wharf at Merry Hill and it was another standard Marston Pub and does what it says on the tin. I have never been so soaked and we were all literally soaked through to the skin through 4 layers of waterproofs and clothing! Monday (the only sunny day!) - headed on down to Kinver and got the last mooring past Kinver lock. Pub there closed so walked into Kinver and ate at the White Hart. Another Marston pub so standard ok hot food on a plate! Tuesday - Overcast but dry...headed down to Stourport...moored outside canalside pub after bridge 8 (I think) but kitchen closed due to Jubilee BH. Ate in The Rising Sun (by bridge 5) - perfectly ok pub, very friendly people inside. Weds - Down the Severn in the pouring rain again (saw only 1 boat going up or down the Severn!), up onto the Birmingham and Worcester and kept going all the way to Tibberton and had a cracking meal in the pub right by the canal (Bridge Inn I think?). Also the owner treated me to some of his homebrew cider from the kitchen and I slept well that night!! This was by far the best meal we had all week. Thursday, wet and windy - Moored up right at the bottom of Tardebigge. Had a simply horrible meal at the canalside pub called The Queen's Head. My wife had to send her salmon back since it was uncooked in the middle and my daughter's kid's meal of a toad in the hole was burnt to a cinder! My lamb was fairly inedible... Fri - Cold and windy in morning and began Tardebigge climb at 8.15am. We were lucky since nearly all locks in our favour plus hardly any traffic coming down so we got through top lock by 11.45!! 3.5 hours I was very pleased with especially since it was pouring down again by about lock 46!! Pushed on and got back to Alvechurch around 1.30pm...soaked, left boat off and came home a day early! Overall impressions? My wife and I enjoyed it (mostly). There's only so many soakings you can take and we had the heating going on the boat pretty much all week to dry clothes and keep warm. The in-laws hated it due to the weather and harder work than they thought! But overall my wife and I came away with a real sense of achivement in beating weather and locks! Met some fantastically friendly people, ate good food apart from that 1 pub, our 8 year old loved feeding and watching the swans and ducks all the way round. Would we do it again?......Yes but definitely not with the In-Laws so I'm happy there since it's also made my wife realise we wouldn't go anywhere with her parents ever again!!! Next time we'll check the weather, book last minute and choose our fellow passengers more wisely!! Tired but happy...hate UK weather though!

Excellent...thanks all.

Just about to embark on our 1st canal boat holiday, anticlockwise round a slightly shortened version of the Stourport ring...as the weather predictably turns colder and wetter from Saturday!! Probably a very silly question concerning locks, but here goes! The big 'manned' locks going on and off the Severn and indeed on the Severn itself, do you literally loiter in front and wait for the lock keeper to spot you, open the gates and turn the lights green? When you go onto the Severn via the narrow locks, do the crew tend to jump back on the boat as you pass through the gates and leave them open for the next boat's crew to close them again? Or are you expected to always close lock gates afterwards and find a suitable place to jump back on the boat? Thinking this might be more difficult as you go onto the Severn?

I had to look twice and realise you did that lot in 3 days!! Either up at 5am each day or a narrowboat with a top speed of 20mph!!

Thanks all for the further recommendations, only 4 days and counting and hoping the weather over the bank holiday weekend cools but remains dry!! Spoke to the boat yard last week and they said they had people coming in with sunburn who'd been surprised by the 'british weather'!!

Many thanks, good advice from you both. Tardebigge and then back to base seems a very good idea for a more relaxing start to the last Saturday as does pushing on a bit past the Astwood locks the day before.

Thanks to all previous recommendations for us for routes from Alvechurch starting Sat 2nd June (can't wait!). Having taken on board (no pun intended!!) comments from here and what the boatyard have said...we're going to go for this route and stops.... How does this sound....long first day but I want to get right round to just past Merry Hill? Start 4pm Alvechurch (anticlockwise round Stourport Ring without Wolverhampton branch).. Day 1 - Stop at Hopwood Day 2 - Stop Dudley Canal around Greens Bridge (just past Merry Hill),looks like 9 hours! Day 3 - Stop Staffs & Worcs around near Kinver, pub on lock I think the Vine? Day 4 - Stop Staffs & Worcs around Stourport, somewhere between Pratt's Wharf and Baldwin's Bridge) Day 5 - Stop Worcs & Birmingham at The Commandery Day 6 - Stop Worcs & Birmingham around Astwood locks (pub called Fir Tree near canal I think?) Day 7 - Tardebigge....stop tired south of tunnel Day 8 - 1 hour back to base.... Thanks all...excellent forum that I'm hoping my fellow boaters get the bug and this is the first of many more!

Think you're selling the Wolverhampton bit and not go via the Netherton in all honesty!! So if we leave Alvechurch and stop at Hopwood on the 1st night just short of the Wast tunnel, do we have enough time to complete the ring including Wolverhampton is the question? Looking at CanalPlan for checking the route, stopping at Hopwood on our first evening is what would stop us being able to do the Wolverhampton route since it says the next day would be 14 hours if we don't go via Netherton!!! Maybe if we pick boat up at 4pm, should go for 3 hours and it suggests stopping somewhere around the 'Cadbury Railway Wharf'?

We're doing this ring in 2 weeks in an anti-clockwise direction, have planned on missing out the Wolverhampton section and going through the Netherton tunnel, does this make this ring too short or just different and comfortable (for 1st timers) in a week?

From what I've heard here and read...depends on whether you fancy the Tardebigge locks at the beginning or end of your holiday and sometimes it's easier going with the flow (anti clockwise) on the Severn. Most people seem to be saying it's done relatively easily in a week which is what we'll be doing in the anti-clockwise route in June half term!

Thanks Steve...by the way, the photos on your website of your canal boat being built are fascinating!

Interesting thanks.. The plan is to stop at Hopwood for the 1st night. Head off through the Wast Hill Tunnel the next morning and hopefully get through the Netherton Tunnel by the end of the day and on from there. Can I ask, where is a 'nice' place to stop through the Netherton? Windmill End looks quite nice but someone said maybe best to try and go further up towards Primrose/Waterfront I think? It'll be Sunday and ideally we'd like to find a decent pub for a Sunday roast when we stop. Don't fancy stopping at Merry Hill since it could be a bit noisy in the evening I'm told. So basically somewhere between Netherton tunnel South exit up to the Delph locks for an overnight and pub?

Lots of brilliant advice thanks to help me choose best route. The wife has even suggested going clockwise from Alvechurch and mooring up just short of Tardebigge locks on day 1 and going through Birmingham on the last full day. Not sure whether it's easier going up the Severn or down is the only difference I can see in that?...Plus of course doing 30 locks in the first full day!!

Ah ok that sounds a good bet thanks...and from Hopwood if we decided to go the Birmingham route round...with a whole day ahead of us should we be able to get right through and out the other side? Am I correct in thinking go through the Netherton tunnel in Birmingham since don't want to head up to Wolverhampton? Canal planner seems to think from Hopwood to just through the Netherton tunnel would take 7 hours? That would place us at Windmill End it seems? Good place to stop do you think?