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Thanks all - plenty of great suggestions. Plan A - Stourport Ring Plan B - Stratford Canal there-and-back We will make a call on it depending on 1) the weather / River Severn, and 2) at the time whether we feel like taking it easy or pushing on. Greatly appreciate all the advice.

Yes plan is to go via the Droitwich canal. Your itinerary looks more do-able than mine, much appreciated thanks. I'm fancying the alternative plan you suggested more now as I don't want to be too pushed for time (and daylight).

Thanks David - we're going from the 17th to 24th October so hopefully avoid the stoppage season. As you say daylight hours will be a limiting factor.

Great advice thanks. Alternative route may be the one we go for - as you say a lot less stressful and can turn around when we hit the halfway point on Tuesday evening.

Thanks John - will also devise a Plan B just in case the rain is here for the next few weeks.

Hi everyone, Total beginner here booked for a week with Black Prince from Stoke Prior in a few weeks time departing on a Saturday. Inspired by the posts from fellow beginner BavariaOne I intend to write up a similar report once completed. They'll be two of us and we're just cruising the loop to experience the canals, we have no places we plan to visit. Using the impressive amount of information available on this forum and Canal plan I thought I'd share the draft plan I've managed to come up with and ask for any hints, tips and advice you guys may have; Day 1 (Saturday) - Stoke Prior to Hanbury. Only a few hours to get used to the boat and bearing in mind sunset will be around 6.30pm Days 2 (Sunday) - Hanbury to River Severn Moorings at Stourport. Now this is a long day of approx 9.5hrs at Canal Plan, this is probably too long for the time of year with limited sunlight. Would appreciate if some could advise on a overnight a few hours south on the Severn (maybe around Holt?). Day 3 (Monday) - Stourport to Kinver. Canal plan warns that the narrow lock from the Severn to Stourport is currently out of action and that the wide lock must be used which only operates Mon, Wed, Fri 9am to 3pm. Please can someone confirm there is no alternatives and, if not, will there likely be a queue at 9am on a Monday morning? Day 4 (Tuesday) - Kinver to Merry Hill Visitor Moorings. Day 5 (Wednesday) - Merry Hill to Oozells St or Gas St Basin, Birmingham Day 6 (Thursday) - City Centre to Alvechurch Day 7 (Friday) - Alvechurch to Stoke Pound Day 8 (Saturday) - Stoke Pound to Stoke Prior Concerns are really only around the potentially long day on Day 2 and access to Stourport on Day 3, advice would be much appreciated. Other than that I just wanted to make sure I hadn't made any glaring errors or missed a better alternative on one of the overnights. Thanks for reading