Robster123

We just ignored them really - we were out to have a relaxing time, not an argument!!! I’m very much a pacifist!!

To be honest, it was two boats out of loads we saw - it seemed to be a busy week! The rest were absolutely lovely, helpful and chatty. 4 counties remains my favourite ring - we moored in new places , and it does seem so rural, with the exception of Stoke and Stone. Absolutely lovely.

Hi, I’ve just completed the Four Counties Ring in a hire boat. We had a fantastic week, with just one day of bad weather really, we saw some lovely wildlife, some great canal architecture and met some amazing people. this was our fifth time doing the four counties, but our first time doing it clockwise, and probably our 23rd or 24th time hiring a narrow boat. I don’t consider myself experienced, because 2 or 3 weeks a year isn’t enough to call yourself such, but I do know how to moor a boat, I can successfully spring on and off the bank, I can safely negotiate locks and I slow down well before moored boats. we had a peculiar thing happen this year though - twice we had boat owners tell us they had priority over hire boats - one at a lock who demanded we let him past (a CRT volunteer put him right) and one at a lock we were descending which was set in our favour - as my wife went to open the gate, a woman ran up and told her to shut it so they could empty it for them to ascend - because they had priority over hirers!! Am I missing something here, or is there an elitist belief amongst owners over hirers? I hope not, because I’m a few years when I retire I hope to become an owner myself. on a positive note, I did have half a day of single handling up locks, and I met a fantastic chap (an owner!) who gave me a whole load of tips about single handling. Brilliant. I’ll put a write up of the four counties in the trip reports soon.