Not the Leicester Ring as such but part of it! Thanks to the advice offered in these forums we completed the Four Counties anti-clockwise from Stoke in the week leading up to the Bank Holiday. Apart from the last day and a half the weather was pretty grim (two thunderstorms in the first two days!) but we did make it. Mind you we were busy and we did put in full days throughout. The first couple of days were tough going lockwise but we only had one queue for locks the whole week...I'd much rather do it that way round than have a lock-fest and potential hold-ups at the very end of the hols. I'm sure you'll easily outman us (me, the wife and our two kids) but as non-drinkers and non-smokers we didn't get distracted by pub stops and were horribly sober and bouncy at 7am! Thinking about it, the only inebriated crew we saw passed us when we were moored for the evening at Penkridge. I was sitting outside musing over the meaning of life when the silence was shattered by a narrowboat steaming past us, it's floodlight beaming into the darkness ahead, illuminating the entire canal. The Americans manning the boat certainly sounded the worse for wear...and believe me, they were't exactly whispering! The time? 10.30pm! They must have completed some locks in the pitch dark and were heading for another! Has anyone seen canalboats travelling later than that? Oh, and we did moor in Stoke overnight on the Friday - adjacent to the Festival Park Marina and next to a flyover. It's enough to drive you to drink...almost!