adam1uk

In April, you're likely to have as much trouble with the Avon not co-operating as you are the Severn. I would also think that the Avon Ring is quite a difficult one to start with for novices, especially anti-clockwise. The locks on the river are big and can be fierce going up, and you have the flow to contend with. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not one of the easier routes. Don't be put off by urban boating either. After all, it's where a lot of the history is. As an alternative, have a look at doing the Black Country Ring which would give you a really good mix of town and countryside, and lots of locks, especially starting at Droitwich which would mean the Tardebigge flight both ways. To avoid that (if the Severn is OK, you could do a combination of the Black Country and Stourport Rings. As far as who does what, I would suggest that you take turns.

Just been down to the boater facilities at Cosgrove. Outside the bin compound is a huge pile of fly-tipped stuff, including a set of dining chairs. And inside the locked compound is just as bad, with bits of a bed among other stuff.

The figures are all in the annual report -- although of course things aren't quite as simple as they first look. The Prime Minister's salary is around £165k -- but that doesn't seem to include pension payments, and then he also gets a flat in Downing St, a country residence, and transport everywhere. CRT's annual report shows there a two or possibly three people earning more. There is one in the £160-170k band, one in the £220-230k band, and one in the £230-240k band. But these figures include pension contributions, car allowance and other things. This means the person in the £160k band earns a basic salary of less than the PM. The notes show that Richard Parry's basic pay is £195k; the other things take that to £226k. He elected to give £9,500 to the Trust's Waterways Charities Appeal. The investment officer earns slightly more. So the answer to how many people earn more than the PM is two -- but probably zero if you take all the benefits into account.

I wasn’t saying that widebeams don’t bash things, because they clearly do. I was pointing out that you can’t only blame widebeams because boats of all sizes bash things. Bridges on narrow canals, where there are no widebeams, still get bashed.

Surprised they didn’t put a dome over it.

They’re not narrow though, as demonstrated by the fact that wide boats can fit through them. Judging by now bashed some bridges are, even on narrow canals — and how bashed most marina entrances are, I’d suggest than many boaters are quite capable of damaging things, even if their boats are theoretically able to fit through easily. Just because a boat is short doesn’t mean it won’t end up near the gates. In fact there’s an argument that a shorter boat being propelled at a gate by water from a good way back is likely to do more damage than a long boat which was pretty much on the gate to start with.

I quite like seeing them too. It’s hearing them I’m not so keen on.

I have Memory Maps on my iPad, and recently downloaded an updated Waterway Routes map. As far as I recall, I didn’t need to do anything to get it on there — I just went to the layers icon in the bottom left corner, tapped on Maps on My Device, and selected the WR one.

I don’t think it’s supposed to have happened yesterday.

Join the Friends of the River Nene to give you access to their moorings. https://www.friendsoftherivernene.co.uk/

Although this is not guaranteed. The problem we had a few years ago was at our local locks, Stoke Bruerne. All local boaters would know that if you're coming up as a single boat, the best way to work is to open the ground paddle on the boat side and the gate paddle on the other side. It keeps the boat nicely to one side and means it's not sent back and forth across the lock. The volockie insisted that we shouldn't open a gate paddle yet, tried ordering us to close it, and then swore at us. I think it was the swearing that actually did for him, as he's no longer a volunteer. But I have also had to demonstrate this way of operating the locks to other volunteers there -- and fortunately most now seem to know about it. But with most of them not being boaters, the only knowledge they start off with is the theoretical correct order of opening paddles.

Yes, this is my strategy too -- always happy to have them setting ahead. But sometimes, like at Watford a few weeks ago when there were two volockies and we were the only boat (and there they really are in charge because you have to book in with them -- and they actually do seem to know what they're doing) I found that after the first couple of locks where I didn't get the wind a paddle at all, I had to position myself strategically near the staircase paddles before they could get there! Eventually one of them went to get a coffee.

If there's a problem with a particular person, you can complain about them -- and I know from experience that complaints are taken seriously, are investigated, and action is taken. This is exactly right. They're part of CRT's outreach, and actually probably do quite a good job of spreading the word. And volunteering is know to be of value to the volunteer as much as anyone else. As such, although we've had run ins with volockies on occasion, I'm not opposed to them. You just have to have a strategy to manage them when they appear in front of you!

I went to a seminar with Richard Parry at the Crick Show, and he was asked about towpath improvements. He said CRT spend none of their own money on towpaths, all the funding comes from other sources — for example, Sustrans, councils, or developers via S106 or CIL payments. He said that if the funding can include bank works as well, then so much the better. In the case of Canalside developments, when banks might have to be strengthened, they make sure that there’s long term agreement that repairs will be carried out when necessary. At the same time, a friend told me he’d seen a thread on a cycling forum complaining that cycling money was being spent on canal banks and not just the paths!

Coming down Stoke Bruerne last week there were several volockies about, at least one of whom I've seen before and knows what he's doing. They also radio to each other and can set ahead which helps. But the penultimate lock has only one bottom paddle, to try to prevent flooding the cottages when the pound below overflows, so always takes ages. But it was taking longer than usual. Then I noticed the pound had dropped quite a bit, so I walked down to the bottom lock to see what was going on. The volockie had got the lock ready, but had failed to notice that a bottom paddle was partly up, draining the pound and stopping the lock above making a level. Once it was closed, we could get the gates open. But on the boats arriving at the bottom lock, he came up with a nonsense story about how the gates of the lock above sometimes get stuck if they're closed in a particular way.

He’s returning from the Crick Show, where he was moored on the towpath.

I would second the suggestion of doing the slightly longer route through Netherton, and Delph, Stourbridge, and Stourton, rather than the Wolverhampton 21. You have to like locks either way, but I just think it’s a nicer route if you have time (which you should do, as the Black Country Ring is a small one).

We hired from Anglo Welsh at Trevor in 1997, a little boat called Bluebell. Today, near Welford Junction, we passed an ex Anglo Welsh boat called Bluebell. Could it be the same boat? Having fished out a photo from back then, I think it could be.

When you get to Gloucester, you must do the whole of the G&S while you’re there. The Purton Hulks are well worth exploring, and right down at Sharpness feels a bit other worldly, with the expanse of the Severn just over the wall. We also walked round to Sharpness docks, to where there’s a park and viewing area. We’d checked online for the ship movements for the day, and saw two ships coming down the massive lock and out into the river, and another waiting outside and then turning round and coming in. This is my favourite photo of it as it turned:

Hanbury Hall (NT) is nice, and there are a couple of different footpaths across the fields to the canal so you can make a circular walk. If you like the views from the top of Tardebigge, then walk up the hill to the church with the unusual spire — you can see for miles from up there.

The Leamington one was inconveniently the other side of the bridge on 29 Sept last year.

Blisworth.

Dave at BLS is an Eberspacher expert, so if that’s what you’re looking at then he’s a good person to talk to.

There’s a useful guidebook you can get from the Avon Navigation Trust, showing you all the lock approaches, some of which can be a bit confusing. The other confusing thing is that Avon locks have two names — one a location, and one the name of the sponsor who helped pay for restoration. Locks on the Upper Avon have overnight moorings marked with blue poles. If you like nice remote moorings, sometimes on a lock island that you can’t get off of, then some of these are fantastic. The lower Avon has fewer mooring places, so a bit more planning is required. Tewkesbury lock looks like a nightmare to get into, but the lock keeper will sort you out. Make sure you go far enough out into the Severn before turning, otherwise you’ll get stuck on the sand bar. In Worcester, you can moor on a pontoon on the river locks up onto the canal, or you can go up and moor above. Depending on time and inclination, an alternative route would be to stay on the river and come off onto the Droitwich Canals. As has been said above, make sure you leave yourself enough time to do the Tardebigge flight at the end of the trip. Sure you’ll have a great time. The Avon is a lovely river, and the ring gives you lots of different types of waterways.

I doubt it, because there’s a narrow right at the start of the Leicester Line. I’m not sure how narrow it is, but I’d be amazed if a widebeam chanced it.