Dbonar

I plan on it.

I thought an update was appropriate. In the end the route is still up in the air but we've definitely settled on an Explorer 8 class boat (70 foot, can sleep 8 without using the dinette as sleeping quarters) out of Autherley Junction. Sorry Old Goat but Napton and the South Oxford canal was considered but didn't seem to gain much traction (a feeling gleaned from various sites that it the South Oxford might be crowded didn't help). Thanks for all the info. Whether you guys feel you were helpful or not the discussion here has done wonders in spurring conversations and things to think about.

This boat is going to run on real ale and coffee.

Don't worry about it. In reality the Thames above Oxford and some of the canals in that area did get pushed out at somewhat of a whim. Some of it is that my wife fell in love with the idea of seeing Chester; by boat if possible but if not we'll probably head that direction afterwards. Some of it is a desire for narrow canals not broad canals both from looking at online pictures and the mental pictures we have. Some is even from an idea picked up from various places that portions of the system near the Grand Union canal seem to be thought of as crowded/popular and sometimes I have a perverse desire to visit the things that aren't as popular This is probably why I have a dislike of the Llangollen from nothing more than the fact that every web site seems to say its the big deal. Now its off the table because we've all started to get invested into thinking about the Midlands and areas to the North and West whether by canal or by train during the rest of the vacation.

Perfect. Thank you. That's exactly the type of thing I'm looking for. Cruising in a narrowboat looks like an interesting activity but, like any road trip, there needs to be a destination. Since "go as far as possible!" seems contra-indicated and silly in a narrowboat I'm happy to decide on an interesting small town, a specific pub, or whatever. Even if everyone has a different opinion it seems like an antidote to looking at CanalJunction, C&RT, Waterways Leisure and the other websites that describe the canals as they describe everything as equally interesting.

One quick comment on my own thoughts. One thing I've noticed is that almost any circular connection gets named as a ring. Yet for some reason I'm not finding any mention of the mini-ring formed by Autherley Junction to Stourton Junction Stourton Junction to Delph Bottom Lock Delph Bottom Lock to Wind Mill End Junction Wind Mill End Junction back to Autherley Junction I'm not sure I want to do it due to the desire for some members of the group to avoid Birmingham but it seems like a nice tight mini-ring. Which is interesting as some websites mention adding up miles + locks and dividing by 3 to get total cruising time. Clearly your experience doesn't match that (you travel faster).

Now, which of these would you recommend? Why should I turn a specific direction at Great Haywood (for example)? I'm not being flippant; I can find a similar list using Canal Planner. I was hoping for the opinions and local knowledge that I can't get from straight facts. Which route has a great pub, or a special view, or an off beat local site that's worth a mooring in midday to go for a walk. Is there a site that lists farmers markets in canalside touwns?

Sometimes I feel that way also! Note that you complained about my not returning to the thread right after I replied. Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you were typing your reply when I posted you have since replied again without acknowledging that I have responded. Until this morning I have found this to be a great forum. However this reply with its condescending attitude (some of which I've edited out) really sticks in my craw. 36 hours elapsed between my 3rd and 4th post in the thread which included two night (14 hours), one work day (around 10 hours after travel time), and some incidentals. I'm sorry I took my vacation planning time to look at possible boats instead of specifically responding to your comment. Since you asked; the Thames and connected canals were mostly eliminated because we have all been to London before. We figured we could see a different portion of the country. York and the Scottish border had been on the initial plans until we fell in love with the idea of a boat trip. If you claimed you wanted to come to the US to see Texas I wouldn't push the Atlanta area on you. You are correct that a strict limit of 1 lock per mile or less is difficult. On the other hand its a reasonable short hand. The Llangollen, upper Shroppie, T&M and Bridgewater areas I've been looking at have just under 2 miles per lock (75ish miles and 20-40 locks). Other than some sort of rough ratio how does one indicate that I (we) think we'd be fine with more locks but really don't want to do something with 75 miles and 110 locks? Part of the issue is that everyone is talking about rings. Perhaps that's just a thing on this forum or with the narrowboating crowd in general but so for I'm not sure there is any ring that seems reasonable. Four Counties almost seems doable. Some reports about the Black Country Ring or the Stourport ring (or is it the Stourton ring) make them sound doable (note that I've seen differing descriptions of those and I'm trying to find out more about them). Mostly though we're thinking about out and back routes so that we can cruise without worrying about having to meet specific checkpoints at specific times. So, given a starting point at Wrenbury, Gailey, Great Haywood, Autherley Junction, or similar spots what would you suggest as an out and back? Birmingham looks like it could be fun. However Old Goat, who seems to be a big Birmingham fan, admits that its a 1/2 to 1 day cruise to get to a "pleasant and safe" mooring. While I don't know about the specific report you mention I know that my parents have expressed a desire to avoid it. If I was going to be cruising around for a longer period of time I'd be interested. If it was just my 4 I'd push for it. With the constraints of a week long hire its going to take a really great sounding trip to make me attempt to sway other people's opinions.

Their Explorer 8 out of Autherley Junction is now at the top of our list. This is where we run into the problems of planning for a group. I'm convinced we could do that ring and it looks interesting. However I'm not seeing agreement from others.

From car trips with this very same group (two just shy of 50 year old couples, our 75 year old mom and dad, and my two late teen aged sons) I'm hessitent to do two boats. The natural break points make our family of 4 in one car/boat and everyone else in the other. Since the reason to vacation together is to spend time with my parents, brother, and sister in law I"d like to keep us together. Like bunk beds this might have to be flexible but I'd rather be careful on bends then take two boats.

Comfort isn't the real issue. I'm much more worried about the sleep schedules with one teenager and one adult who like to sleep in and two 75 year olds who might want to nap midday or go to bed early. You've got that right! It might be the route we take although I'm not sure how that will go over with a couple of people in the crew. One thing that isn't going to fly is bunk beds.

We want locks. We'd prefer to avoid a route that averages a lock per mile though. As mentioned in my other thread the biggest problem seems to be finding a big enough boat. 3 double beds plus 2 singles is fairly doable but we'd prefer to avoid having anyone sleep in the dinette. That's tough.

No panic. Just need to reassure some of the crew. BTW and apropos of nothing but man is it hard to find boats to sleep 8 without making someone sleep in the dinette or making one of the 3 couples sleep in single beds.

As mentioned in another thread I am part of a group of 8 planning a trip in July. It will be our first trip on a narrowboat. Due to the size of our party we are going to end up with a long boat (I believe every one we are looking at is 70 feet). Some places say these boat are for experienced skippers. Other places say they aren't any harder to steer. Assuming it fits in locks on our route is there any reason to dread getting a 70 footer?

Thanks for the welcomes and the info. Manchester is in the running but right now it looks like Birmingham is slightly cheaper for flights from the US. We'll be arriving from multiple locations in the US and staying different lengths of time in the UK both before and after the boat hire so either would work. Mostly we've been looking for boats using Drifters and Hoseasons to make sure that there are 8-10 berth vessels where we want them. As one person said - we'd rather pick out route and look for boats then pick a boat and look for routes. We would be happy to actually hire directly from the smaller outfit but the bigger websites make finding boats much faster. The 4CR does look interesting. I'd like to try it at some point but around 100 miles and 90+ locks probably doesn't match our plans. Llangollen is being looked at. We'll be going in early July so I'm somewhat worried about it being busy.