Hick

I'm glad to hear Anglowelsh sorted the situation, as I've got nothing but praise for them. I've not been in the situation of having to cancel a booking, but on occassions where we have had issues on the holiday they have been sorted very efficiently. The staff on the phone and at the bases (have been to four now!) are always very friendly and helpful. I realised they probably should have sorted the situation at the start, but I think it's a tad unfair to write them off quite as quickly as some have appeared to here. I've just booked again for this year under their week for the price of a short break promotion, so £1000 instead of £1500 and we're very much looking forward to getting out on to the cut again! Hick

It's not exactly the best of behaviour from Anglowelsh, but from personal opinion I cannot fault them. The only time I've had a problem with them in 4 years of boating, they've been there within two hours to rectify the problem and have been perfectly amenable in all other aspects. I wish you the best in all of this, but for the price and available routes, I cannot fault Anglowelsh!

Ah what great videos. It's just like when we go boating. Different groups of individuals, but always the same amount of fun Formation dancing on the roof, been there, done that. Cotton eyed Joe in the complete and utter pitch black will always go down as a classic Last trip I went on, there was a lot of bridge jumping. One of my friends was coming down off of a high road bridge a while after we left Llangollen. He landed safely on the roof to the applause of an entire trip boat with the average age of about 65. I thought we'd be frowned upon, but it really made me smile when they all applauded Role on Boat Trip 07'! (2 69 footers with 20 people this time )

I've been narrowboating for the last couple of years and would thoroughly recommend a one way trip between between New Mills and Trevor. We did this trip as our first trip on the canals and thoroughly enjoyed it. Theres a good mix of scenery and to finish the trip, the absolute last thing you do, is to cross the Pontcysyllte aqueduct. An absolutely stunning end to the week. Theres plenty of locks and lift bridges to keep the kids occupied. This trip was with Anglowelsh, who we have been away with subsequently and will do again in September this year, and I would thoroughly recommend them. The boats are kept in good order, they insist upon tuition even if you have been out before, and when we encountered a problem on board with a faulty water pipe connector, they were very prompt and helpful in fixing the problem. On our travels we've dealt with Anglowelsh bases at Trevor, New Mills, Bunbury and Great Haywood and we've had great service at them all.

Anglowelsh are the only hire company with boats large enough for our requirements that would accept single sex 18 year old groups that I could find. Since turning 18 in September 04' I have been out for two week long holidays with them and will be doing another couple of 1 week holidays next year. I would thoroughly recommend both Anglowelsh and their very high quality boats, but alas this does not help the OP and so it looks like patience is the key

Yes I do realise this It's going to be a whole week of long days, but with a crew of 10 18 year olds I think we can do it

Thanks everyone for the replies. This is good news given that we are taking on the four counties ring and Chester in September to facilitate a suprise birthday in Chester half way through the trip. By going clockwise, we can do the supposedly longer half of the trip whilst we have the 3 days plus the first afternoon rather than the last three days and hour or so on the last day. I realise this is a demanding trip and so any odd couple of hours we need to take advantage of

I was wondering if anybody had any experience with hire boats from the Anglowelsh Great Haywood base. In particular I was wondering how possible it was to choose your own direction around the 4 counties ring from the base? I say this, because of course if the boats are moored canal side on our arrival then unless there's a winding hole nearby then our direction is pretty set, but if the boats are moored in a marina then it will be much easier. Thanks for any replies

We will be attempting the four couties ring plus a detour to Chester in September in a week. I realise its a long way, but with an able bodied crew of 9 18/19 year olds we should be able to do it

I was the lead in a party of 6th formers that did a canal boat holiday in October last year and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Having found a boat yard that would accept us (all 8 of us were 17 or 18), we did New Mills to Trevor on a one way trip. We found everyone to be very friendly towards us, even though our outward impression of 8 lads cruising the canal system with beer cans to hand maybe would have put some people off. We enjoyed it so much that we're doing either the Cheshire or Four counties ring in early September. Hopefully the weather will be as good as last year, when we were virtually sunbathing at the end of October! And hopefully there'll be some challenges awaiting us this year, such as some of the very tight turns in a 69ft narrow boat, especially when your not sure which way to go until the last minute