cornishdave

I've just checked, and it looks like it took us around 4.5 hours - left the boatyard around 3pm and arrived at the Cross Keys at 7.30pm. (It was summer though so no problem with light).

No problem. In fairness it wasn't actually that busy. Certainly when moving we saw remarkably few people on the move, it was just the Saturday & Sunday evenings in the particularly busy pub/mooring sports that we noticed a lack of moorings

Well we made it round safe and sound. Quick (ish) summary for those that asked... Saturday: pick up boat at Autherley, travel to Penkridge. Stopped at the first mooring available (it was busy) and ate in the Cross Keys (nice food and cheap). (approx 10 miles, 5 locks). Sunday: Penkridge to Stone. Again very busy so stopped at first available spot which was before planned (i.e. before Stone bottom lock/Star lock). nearest pub was some distance and wasn't doing food so ate on board, (approx 19 miles and 10 locks) Monday: Early start so we would make the tunnel - Stone to Red Bull. Be aware we left around 08:30 and made it to the tunnel with 5 minutes to spare (last northbound passage was 16:00). Ate at Red Bull - plenty of mooring space in the vicinity. Lovely home made pies and cheap. Best to phone ahead though as they were turning people away who hadn't booked (possibly they wanted to finish food early cos of bank holiday) Approx 15 miles and 16 locks. Tuesday: Red Bull to Middlewich. Moored above Maureen's lock having done the tricky turn onto the Middlewich Branch (70-footer took a few goes at getting round). Plenty of moorings. Ate in town at the Narrowboat gastropub good curries and slightly more expensive but not too bad. Approx 11 miles and 27 locks Wednesday: Middlewich to Audlem. Moored right outside the Shroppie Fly but (on advice of others we'd met) ate at the Lord Combermere. Very good food, slightly pricey but well worth it. 20Approx 20 miles and 11 locks Thursday: Audlem to Norbury junction. Moored in last available spot before the junction but appeared to be more after it. Ate in the Junction Inn, again good pub food and average pricing. Approx 17 miles and 21 locks Friday: Norbury Junction to Compton (having passed the starting point). Went down the first two Compton locks then turned and went back up them, mooring just above the top lock - plenty of space. Chippy for dinner as advised, very good but be prepared for a long queue as it's v popular (Peps Place). Approx 19 miles and 5 locks Saturday: a quick 45-60 minute trip back to the base with no locks (apart from the 6 inch stop lock at the base itself). All in all a fantastic (but rather energetic) week again with no disasters and only one grumpy person met all week. A few 8.5 hour days but nothing outrageous. Now planning next year (possibly the Avon Ring!) ?

To follow up, just gone through and it's all fine now ?

As we're currently in Stone planning to go through Stoke tomorrow does anyone have any more news? (Not on the CRT stoppage page that I can see)

I will indeed update when we get back, however at the moment we're still eagerly anticipating as we don't go until the end of the month ? We have tweaked the above plan slightly though to put us nearer the case on the last night, I'll let you know how we got on...

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. One quick follow up question for those that know the area though... There's a winding point just above lock 29 (Wightwick Lock), but on Google Earth it looks a bit tight - will I be able to turn a 70' boat there? Many thanks Dave

I like your thinking ? Yeah I did consider the chippy, but for various reasons there's a good chance we'll be having fish and chips a couple of days before that anyway and don't want to repeat. Certainly an option if plans change though, thanks.

Hi all, I've been looking at our plans for our summer trip and have a very quick query... I'm looking for a pub about an hour away from Autherley Junction (in any direction really), looking at maybe Compton - there seems to be a few choices such as the Swan, Oddfellows, Newbridge etc. Ideally we just want a pub serving good (not necessarily posh) pub grub with decent/quiet moorings. Any recommendations? Cheers Dave

Funnily enough I saw one of these while watching one of the Cruising The Cut videos on YouTube last night. Try here: Around 5'15 in

Thanks everyone for the advice, exactly what I was looking for, I'll grab a Nicholson's over the weekend and read with your comments :-) Dave

Hi all, After your invaluable help last year I thought I'd try again... ? We (6 of us, mixed ages from 21 to 50s) are heading out on the four counties ring late August and I'm hoping for some advice on pubs etc. We're going anti-clockwise staying at Autherley Junction. As we managed the Warwickshire ring last year (long way via north Stratford and included a detour through the Braunston tunnel and back) I'm not too concerned about time or a couple of long days. We're not too fussed on posh/gastro food, just decent pub food. Anyway, what I've come up with so far is this: Night 1 - Penkridge (choice of several so happy to pick when we get there) Night 2 - Sandon(ish) either Dog and Double or go couple more bridges to Greyhound Night 3 - Westport Lakes, couldn't see much so probably pick up a chippy on way through and eat/drink onboard Night 4 - Wheelock (few options including Cheshire Cheese) Night 5 - Barbridge junction, Barbridge Inn Night 6 - Market Drayton visitor moorings, possibly The Talbot Night 7 - Brewood, Bridge Inn Does this look about right? Huge thanks Dave

Two Boats Long Itchington was the first night, the Cuttle bridge Inn (just after Minworth ) was much later in the week. :-) No worries, I didn't take it as a reflection on me (I'm pretty thick skinned anyway so even if it was I wouldn't take offence). I mainly replied to say that we were lucky and didn't see much of that sort of grumpiness throughout the week (and maybe she had a good reason/bad day - we all have them occasionally)

I take your point, but in this case after watching them we decided that she was probably in a grump as she was working the flight with another boat that appeared to be fairly new and didn't know what they were doing plus struggling with heavy gates. In hindsight we should've helped out - but I wasn't feeling very generous toward them by then. Everyone else we met on the week was very friendly and cheerful (even the drunks/wasters by Farmers Bridge locks, not that there were many), so can't complain. :-)

Just a quick follow up to this... We had a fabulous trip on the Warwickshiire ring... Started from Napton, went the long way (up the North Stratford - which is beautiful and probably our favourite part of the trip) and even managed some minor detours. We did put in a couple of long days though! As for pubs, we didn't eat out every night but visited: Two Boats - very busy but still served quickly. Standard pub grub but not bad at all Tom O The Wood - pretty good, decent food but service slightly slow (due to cooking to order I assume) Dog & Doublet - lovely pub, fantastic home made pie and pretty cheap Cuttle Bridge Inn (lunchtime drink) - decent canal side seating with mooring right outside, restaurant looked ok if a little sterile for our more pubby/common tastes! The Folly - fantastic! perfect canal side pub, epic food and decent prices. All in all a fantastic trip. Only met one moody/shouty person all week when we didn't see her coming up Braunston flight and started to turn the lock against them. We quickly apologised and re-emptied the 6 inches of water we'd let in, but she was so abrupt and unwilling to converse we then walked off and let them carry on unaided (petty I know but gave me some satisfaction) Already planning next year - maybe the four counties! :-)