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