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zimzim

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Everything posted by zimzim

  1. I confess to having considered it...... but apart from the overriding sense of decorum, I didn't fancy having to explain why the boat was all over the place and my feet were wet.
  2. Yes - Birmingham is worthwhile if you have time. If you are doing the ring anti-clock and if you find you have a day available to add to your trip when you get to that point, then you could replace, say, the 1 day jump from Bluebell Cider House > Alvechurch with a 2 day hop such as Bluebell Cider House > Birmingham Centre > Alvechurch This avoids any of those less than desirable overnight moorings. In any event, there are notably zero locks in this part of the journey - an ideal preparation for Tardebigge!
  3. My other half flatly refuses to take the tiller for even a minute, unless (as I have now discovered) we are on a river and I am threatening to pee my pants if I don't get a quick comfort break. First decision if going anti-clock will be whether to do the Droitwich Canal (which is interesting) or head straight down the Worcester and Birmingham. Anti-clock ring means a few hours whizzing downstream on Severn followed by a few days plodding upstream on Avon. Clockwise means a few days downstream on Avon followed by several hours fighting upstream on Severn. If going up the Avon, locks will require a little more care, as already stated.
  4. Completely useless comms from CRT...we turned round and spent a day going north on the Stratford, only to find that they have fixed the Wilmcote problem. We are now stuck at Shirley drawbridge which, contrary to comms originally issued, will now remain closed until tomorrow. .......updated to note that we have passed through Shirley with no sign of the problem.... drawbridge is working fine. CRT notices are not really worth looking at.
  5. According to a man on a bike who just passed is, there's a closure due to a breach at lock 43 on the Wilmcote flight
  6. Worst thing I've ever had to remove was an old rucksack - loads of tightly wrapped nylon webbing and straps, much of it with steel reinforcement wires running through. Sometimes, rather than just cutting, it works better to grab some of the offending material with some grips and then manually rotate the prop to unwind stuff. Ditto previous suggestion of junior hacksaw, but a regular hacksaw blade wrapped with a bit of rag to improvise a handle makes a pretty useful tool.
  7. Strangely quiet at the Cape.... came down Hatton flight this morning expecting usual competition for a mooring spot.... found moorings almost empty.
  8. No signed visitor mooring any longer at cuckoo wharf (we just used it regardless). The mooring at Aston Lock looks fine (rings and bins) but I couldn't see any signage at all there.
  9. Yes.. . that's been replaced with this.
  10. Just for any interested parties - Painted Boats is on Talking Pictures again at 18.30 this evening (31/05/22)
  11. Yes - I'm interested to see how this works out as a base for 250 narrowboats.
  12. Listening to Jeremy Vine mangling a news item by misconstruing every possible aspect is always excruciating - this was no exception.
  13. If Rose have equipped you for rivers, then I would really recommend venturing onto the Avon....
  14. Does the panel think that there is any value in having a (well secured) safe on a boat?
  15. Excellent (apart from that thumb (thumbnail?) - I do hope that wasn't one of those incidents where someone wraps the rope around their hand to give themselves purchase - it worries me whenever I see this!) I think ABC are working out of Nuneaton for the first time this year, so I expect they have more boats on the Warwickshire Ring. (By same token, Kate Boats are not working out of Warwick for the moment.) The Cape of Good Hope beckons!
  16. Ah - I hope the Weighbridge is back on form - it's one of my favourites, but can be a bit temperamental. Last time I was in Alvechurch (during Covid) it happened to be closed and a guy in boatyard said they had given up trying to work out which nights it might be open, as there didn't seem to be any particular pattern! We moved on a couple of minutes to the Crown Inn, which I hadn't tried before, and which turned out to be excellent (beer and food). Also quite handy moorings. Hope you are enjoying your trip. Big old tunnel tomorrow! Blue Bell Cider House? Brum?
  17. If the offending vlockies were on the Wilmcote flight, these may be the ones nicknorman had a confrontation with last Summer. Severn is CRT - last year on Stourport ring was the only time I have EVER been required to show evidence of a licence before being allowed through a lock! Are you doing Worcester or Droitwich?
  18. Yes, completely agree - i did slow right down (and gave what i thought were some pretty simple clear signals that he should move over!) but as you know, it comes down to that dilemma over whether to retain some forward motion and ability to manoeuvre, or whether to scrub off your speed, become a spectator and let matters unfold! I really think if i had stopped then he would have ploughed straight into me, trying as he was even by that point to squeeze through a non-existent gap between me and the towpath- he was a steerer with all of 3 minutes experience moving at quite a pace (and I think trying to maintain some kind of casual credibility with his passengers).
  19. I've always been surprised that hire boats do not have some very basic safety (and possibly etiquette) guidance on some sort of wall poster inside the boat. It wouldn't need to be too overbearing, but would help the inexperienced to avoid the simplest and some of the most dangerous mistakes. Reminds me of an incident last Summer when I unexpectedly found myself in a surreal and increasingly disturbing game of chicken with one of those small open-sided day-boats coming in the opposite direction. As we approached one another, I moved over to the right in the usual way, only to find to my alarm that he repeatedly matched my manoeuvre and seemed intent on a head-on collision. I finally decided to blink first and took what felt like a last-second opportunity to put my 65ft boat onto the 'wrong' side and pass starboard-to-starboard. To my relief, he didn't mirror that final change of direction and we very narrowly avoiding what (especially for him and his family) would have been quite a memorable impact! Having gathered my thoughts, I politely enquired as we passed what he was thinking. He was most apologetic - he had literally only just left the hire base and 'didn't know what side to drive on' (and had assumed it was the same as his car). All ended in smiles and apologies. I don't know what instruction he can have been given, but it can't have been much!
  20. Just came up the Wilmcote flight....no sign of any vlockies, strangely!
  21. Thought I'd seen one recently... https://www.boatfinderbrokerage.co.uk/boats/boat-120183-Henry-The-Navigator-58ft-Cruiser-Stern-Narrowboat-Boatfin
  22. Really depends on how much you want to 'do Worcester' or maybe clip a couple of hours off your journey. Droitwich route is more rural and is interesting (single locks, double locks, locks with side-ponds, a staircase lock and an extremely low bridge). There is a handy canal-side Waitrose in the middle of Droitwich. Bear in mind, though, that it is very difficult to stop on most of this route - not sure if that matters to you. I quite like Worcester, but in anti-viral mode I'm thinking city pubs may be a struggle.
  23. Queen's Head is part of Lovely Pub group - so closely related to the Boot at Lapworth, and the similarity shows. They are primarily 'gastro', rather than being for drinkers. The Boot barely counts as a canal pub these days, but was my local in a previous life. We celebrated other half's birthday at the Queen's Head last year (coincidentally - just where we happened to be that night) having called there the year before to take on some calories before tackling Tardebigge flight. There's something about spending a Summer's evening in an English pub garden, on the rare occasions when you comfortably can, and food is excellent if you are not on a tight budget. Eagle & Sun serves a useful purpose - rather more 'cheap and cheerful' and more of a holiday camp approach with it's carvery, but we've always found it to be decent. BTW - Weighbridge at Alvechurch is a real gem - order food early as it's made in small batches and get's scrubbed off the blackboard over the bar as they run out!
  24. Interested in this thread as I might be doing Stourport ring also this Summer. I've seen many negative reviews of the Vine at Kinver on here in the past, but recent reviews on Google since the place has been 'under new management' are generally excellent. It would be great if this was reinstated as a recommended canal-side stop. Does anyone have any recent experience?
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