Cruising Mike

I have doe the Caen flight about 3 times and each time i have found i beautiful.

I'm not sure i appreciate all the critism of the South East. It is far better than anywhere north of Birmingham. Just crap!

I don't think others will appreciate long hours of 'cursing'!!

More like, what's her name. Lol

Granted for the previous, but for the latter thats what maps are for

No offense, but do you really need Wifi? After all, it's all about getting away from it all.

Thanks Chertsey but we have now agreed to moor at the Oxley Marine club as we would feel safer leave the boat there whilst we are out for the evening. And we will just wind at the winding hole near the bottom lock the next morning and set off again on the ring.

This guy gets my vote for Quote of the Day. Can't get any more honest than that! Refreshing...

One thing i have learnt from others here on the forums is that the Middlewich section including Marple locks can be rather busy at times, maybe more so in August so you should probably try to do that bit first so you know how much time to make up on the rest of the trip, if any.

I will see if i can buy one when wages come through. However, i doubt they would send it to Dubai. EDIT: To say that Gypsey has been so kind to modify the above map for me.

Arbutus - I have download the respective maps from Waterscape.com. and i find them very useful. Funnily enough i did once try cutting out the maps from the PDFs and try to arrange them together but didn't quite work. The link you sent is useful in regards to cruising times, but it is rather small!

Both the above options require at least some form of payment. I already have Nicholson's Four Counties guide, but i was look for a free one easily downloaded form the net. The one i posted the link to is the best one i found but i want to have it without the red font. Can't use photoshop on this computer and certainly won't have the time!

Morning all, Does anyone have a copy of this map or can point me in the right direction. I need one that doesn't have the red font written on it. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://george.byethost8.com/Photograph%2520Album/Canal%2520Holidays/Canal%25202012/Four%2520Counties%2520Ring/Route%2520Map.jpg&imgrefurl=http://george.byethost8.com/Photograph%2520Album/Canal%2520Holidays/Canal%25202013/Warwickshire%2520Ring/Warwickshire%2520Ring.htm&usg=__IrhdgSK59gBaASy0UlZdTUa0IGc=&h=1317&w=1000&sz=225&hl=en&start=163&sig2=3MnZQuwHbX2bZ2WTt99Q7g&zoom=1&tbnid=o013U0ln9GloEM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=114&ei=nVg1UvOBMISg4gSs5YDwCg&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0CDEQrQMwAjigAQ Of if anyone has anything similar but just as good. Thanks, Michael

I think if you are doing a ring in particular, a little planning goes a long way. It's no good waking up on the 3rd day realising that you are too far behind. If doing a weekly cruise i think if you choose a reference point for each night's mooring you can consider yourself safe. If you arrive at that chosen point earlier than expected then carry on a bit.

I think i would prefer to stay at Oxley Marine as it appears there is a couple of services we might need, like water etc and would probably feel safer in a 'narrowboat' environment. Also can't be sure how intoxiacated we would be after the night out so being right next to the bus stop is definately safer.

Thanks guys. I read somewhere once that Autherley is not a nice place to moor as it is right next to a block of flats on one side and there is a sewage on the other so i have thus far avoided stopping here altogether. So, decisions, decisions but lots of fun!

I can pinch myself for overlooking the winding issue as it is obvious it's not possible anywhere on the flight. There is a winding hole marginally north of Aldersley Junction from what i can see, so might be better to moor up there. I will have a look at where Oxley moor road is.

Arbutus - We are hiring from Overwater Marina doing the 4 counties ring. I can see that there are no winding holes now i can see how that can be a problem. The boat is 4 berth and is 48 feet long. So presumably that is too long anyway?

Thanks for all the replies. We have decided to take your advice and not do all those locks. Instead we were thinking of stopping at Gorsebrook Bridge (also called Stafford Road bridge) and walk to the centre from there. This way we would only need to do 6 locks either way. Is it possible to moor here? Is there enough room?

Just out of curiosity, how long would it take to walk from wolverhampton bottom lock to the ring road?

Paul - All viable ideas but the point of us doing the wolverhampton bit was the desire for us to actually get into the centre for old times sake. I don;t mind doing a few extra locks. I'm more concerned about having enough time to do it. As i understand it, going anti clockwise on the ring, there is a long stretch (19miles or so) with only 2 locks on the Shroppie so the locks after autherley will be a welcome. It's just a case of 'do we have enough time'?

Hello, We are doing the 4 counties ring next May we would definately be doing in the region of 10-11hrs crusing which would give us a few spare hours to do something else. I will be going with 2 other lads whom i met at Wolverhampton uni a decade ago and we are interested to spend the night there to re-live and visit old haunts. So, we were thinking of doing a detour from Autherley Junction downwards and mooring up at the train station in Wolverhampton (On the BNC) and back again before carrying on. i have checked with canaplan AC and they say it would take approx 3hrs one way, and i can see that there are alot of locks as well., Is this feasible or are we best to avoid it and just moor up at Autherley and get to Wolves city centre by other means?

Back on topic, i personally wouldnt mind it if it was scooped into the water. After all it will breakdown very quickly once it starts to breakdown and it will feed all the habitat along the cut, plants included. Although it can be rather unsightly seeing one dip and bob along the water!

Correct me if im wrong but fish roe is another word for fish eggs? If so, then granted it isn't the same as what comes out of the backside, but it is still 'excreted' out of the body. Hence my comparision! Catweasel, that is an interesting snippet about the fears of horse ownership. Maybe in future we will be on the verge of being 6 ft deep in dog poo and something else comes along that is even worse.

Does that apply to Caviar? Not quite the same, but still 'excretement' all the same