[Back home....]

Cheers.....

 

Coventry and North Oxford pictures - Part 1

 

 

Coventry and North Oxford pictures - Part 2

 

Great pictures, Martin!

[Caldon Canal]

I am planning a mid week break for three (wife and father in Law plus me!) April 19th. Hopeing to explore the Caldon Canal with a start point at Stoke, and at a reasonable price. Have viewed most of the main hire companies but hoping to widen the choice. Has anyone recommendations or perhaps know of smaller more obscure boat hirers.

Chris Bowden

 

We flew over from the U.S. and did the Caldon in 2009 and would highly recommend the folks at Black Prince Narrowboats. We picked our boat up at Etruria and they were very helpful for boating novices. Here's a link to my blog post about our trip:

 

 

Yanks On the Cut: Our Week on an English Narrowboat

[Our week on the Caldon]

Mark, very pleased that you enjoyed the Caldon, maybe I am more than a tad biased, as I moor my own boat on the Caldon as well as chairing the charity that operates a boat for disabled children (the Beatrice) out of Cheddleton, but I do think that it is one of the jewels of the system.

Just make sure that you come back again, soon

 

We passed the Beatrice twice, once moored and once going in the opposite direction with a boatload of happy kids. It's a great thing you do, giving them a chance to get out on the water.

[Our week on the Caldon]

A great read and very interesting to understand how you on the other side of the pond see us over here......

 

eg - remaking on the £1 needed for the shopping trolley - it's just so normal to us we don't think twice but I don't think I've ever seen that in the US when I think about it.

 

There's another one of those word differences. We call them "shopping carts" instead of trollies. I was trying to remember the sign above where the trollies were stored and almost called them "shopping lorries" by mistake in my post, because lorry is another word we don't commonly use over here that we saw over there. (we call them "trucks")

[Our week on the Caldon]

Glad you had a good time! The Caldon is one of my favourite canals, with as you found, the Hollybush and the Black Lion the jewels in its crown. Your blog gives a fascinating insight into the UK As A Foreign Country, with every detail appearing strange and curious.

 

Cheers

 

Mac

 

Thank you, Mac. And I didn't even go into detail about the new words we learned on our trip. Even though we share a common language, some of the signs we saw along the way had us scratching our heads.

[Our week on the Caldon]

My wife and I, along with her sister and brother-in-law recently completed a long-anticipated week aboard a hired narrowboat on the Caldon and Trent & Mersey and we had a fantastic time.

 

The one thing that made the biggest impression on us was the friendliness and helpfulness of the people we met along the way. I don't know if anyone reading this is among those we met, but if you were, thank you for your hospitality shown to us. We weren't sure what to expect being totally inexperienced at boating, but everything went very smoothly. The people we met along the way kept mentioning that there might be a few unfriendly people on the canals, but we sure never came across them if there were.

 

Thanks also to those on this board who offered advice and assistance to my earlier posts. Tips you offered were key to our preparations for the trip.

 

If any Americans are reading this and considering traveling to the UK for a narrowboat vacation, you absolutely won't regret it.

 

And, if anyone would like to read the details of our trip and see some pictures, here is a link to a blog post I've made about it:

 

http://cottonpatch.wordpress.com/2009/10/0...ish-narrowboat/

 

Mark Cotton

[Caldon Canal (Proposed trip)]

I don't think it does food but there is a curry house (Jaflong Curry House) right next door.

 

When you say four, is that four adults ?

Pete.

 

Thanks Pete! We (four beer-swilling adults) will keep it in mind.

 

Mark

[Caldon Canal (Proposed trip)]

The pub you must try is The Coachmakers at Hanley. Yes, it is still in Stoke but it's a really super pub under threat of demolition. We stayed there overnight with no problem. Moor by bridge 8 and it's a 5 min (ok possibly 10 'cos it's quite a hill..) walk up the hill toward the town centre. It's near the bus station whitch is why it's under threat - The council want to knock it down to build a better access road into the bus station.

 

Does The Coachmakers serve food? Four of us are coming from the U.S. to spend a week on the Caldon in September.

[Another silly question from the American]

Generally speaking, where does the water in the canals at higher elevation come from? Is it from lakes and rivers, or rainwater runoff, or something else?

[Narrowboats and the good old USA]

I think it would make sence to mess with the narrowboat concept and maybe make it a bit wider and give it a bit more draft this would make it a more sencible design for use in a very different enviroment while keeping some of the "traditional effect" (if in reality that does exist) would still be possible.

 

Now that I see the layouts of their boats, they do look to be wider than 7 feet:

 

http://www.midlakesnav.com/lockmaster/theboats.html

 

As Americans, we love the open road and taking our home along with us, as evidenced by the millions of motorhomes on the roads here. I can see how the same concept could easily transfer to the water. I've been joking with my wife that I would never get her to agree to a motorhome vacation, but she's going along with the narrowboating idea easily. (She's even reading "Narrowboat Dreams" by Steve Haywood)

[Narrowboats and the good old USA]

The Americans seem to take their boats and boating very seariously but where you would set about finding potential American narrowboaters I just don't know?

 

Here's one firm that rents boats on the Erie Canal that look similar to English narrowboats:

 

http://www.midlakesnav.com/lockmaster/index.html

 

My wife and I considered staying on this side of the Atlantic and doing the Erie Canal instead of a canal in England, but couldn't get excited about seeing more of the USA versus the English countryside.

 

But, aren't traditional English narrowboats difficult to handle on open waters? Most of the waterways over here are wider and have idiots buzzing around on Jet-ski's or their father's speed boat.

[Dumb Narrowboat Question]

I guess you'll be hiring from Black Prince, then, at Etruria. Most Hire firms start the hire at mid-afternoon, which would give you time to get to Milton (best moorings are past the bridge). You'd be best using your last full day to come right down to Etruria, and moor either ouside the museum or outside the Black Prince yard. Do't miss the Hollybush pub at Hazehurst (acess either from the Leek branch up on the aqueduct, or moor ouside the pub) If you're lucky you may see (and hear) the famous tug'o'war team practising.

 

Cheers

 

Mac

 

Yes, we'll be hiring from Black Prince at Etruria. Thank you for the advice. I got it scheduled out this past weekend using CanalPlannerAC and now just have to sit and watch the calendar tick by until next September. If anybody has any more advice for a newbie about pubs, mooring places, sights and stores along the way, feel free to chime in.

[Dumb Narrowboat Question]

Hi Mark,

Firstly welcome, i and everyone here will tell you it is going to be one of the most memorable holidays you will have.

As for the electric, lights etc are generally 12volt and hire boats have more than sufficient battery capacity for all your needs during your moored (parked) hours, the batteries will charge easily on a hire craft in the time you are moving.

some larger items, like microwaves use mains voltage which is supplied via an invertor, which again takes the initial power from the batteries, these items do need to be used with some regard to their consumsion.

The battery used to start the engine is almost always seperate from the 'domestic' batteries, so even if you do manage to flatten the domestic ones then you will still have the power to start the engine and re-charge the flat ones.

Do you have any ideas yet as to which area you are considering? how long a vaccation you are planning?

There are always plenty of people here who will ask any questions you have, dumb or not, we just want you to have a good time!

Duztee

Thanks Duztee! Currently, we're leaning towards doing the Caldon Canal, starting at Etruria and doing both the Froghall and Leek branches. We're planning on one week and the only hesitation we have with this plan is that we are planning on starting and ending where the Caldon branches off from the main Trent & Mersey and since there won't be more than an hour or two cruising time on the starting and ending days we will end up mooring overnight in a relatively urban area. I haven't used CanalPlannerAC yet to figure out exactly where those overnighting spots will be, but once I do I may be back to ask about the safety of the area.

[Dumb Narrowboat Question]

I've become obsessed with planning a narrowboat holiday next year, coming from the U.S. My wife and I have been studying the brochures and websites of hire companies and have a question about the newer narrowboats that most of the hire companies use:

 

Is the electricity that runs the lights, heating, etc. produced by the narrowboat's engine? And, if so, does that mean the engine must be running to have lights, or is there some sort of battery arrangement?