Kieron

Hi Folks, Sorry I know this question has been asked many times, but normally it seems with an eye to food! We are heading to the LLangollen soon as part of my brothers stag do, we are pressed for time unfortunately so picking up the boat at Trevor, then Llangollen, back to around Ellesmere depending on how many stops we make, then back to Trevor. We are all in our forties and looking for pubs which: Have great interesting beer, not just fizzy larger and large screen football. Is an interesting friendly sort of place. Canal side would be handy but woud travel further if worthwhile. Scenic / beer garden? No problem if not family run, have been to plenty of good Wetherspoon pubs (and a few bad ones!), and plenty of unfriendly family run outfits. Food is largely secondary as we may cook for ourselves, the company, scenery, chat, beer and atmosphere is primary! Hopefully the above gives all you experienced Llangollen pub experts enough to go on with what we are looking for! Many Thanks Kieron

Hi All, Thanks to the many people who have replied to my basic beginner questions, you'll be glad to know I'm drawing ever nearer in my quest to organise my brothers canal stage do!. First favourite the Caldon took a hit when I found out that one of the tunnels is so low you can only get smaller boats through?, hiring 2 or 3 4 person boats could work out too pricy... The second is the Llangollen, with a day out with jjraftcanow.com, or somewhere between Llangollen and Ellesmere doing a side trip to Rednal for the karting. Anyway on to my question, can any of you folks recommend a good hire company for the Llangollen canal, hopefully as close as possible to the canal itself as most people can only make 3 days which I imagine would be a push to run up the canal and back down in somewhere between mid-April to early May? Many thanks Kieron

Hi There, Not sure which part of the forums to put this message. But anyway planning a trip on either of the two canals mentioned as part of my brothers stag do. The main reason is to get together, happily potter down the canal, have the odd pint and have a catch up and good time. But to mix things up a little... Does anybody know of any fun 'lads' things to do nearish the canals? thinking of karting, offroading, paintballing etc, anything to do with adrenaline to get it out of our system before happily unwinding floating peacefully along.... Many thanks Kieron

Hey guys, One further question if you don't mind, regarding 'How long it takes' I was looking at the hire comapnies - In ths case Andersoin Boats - And it says to do the Caldon it takes 'Average cruising time per day (one week) - 9 hours' (Didn't want to ring them on a Sun, plus interested in what your experiences are) I read elsewhere that you should take each lock to be an extra mile, so 18 miles plus 17 locks = 35 miles. Say we average 3 miles and hour? That only adds up to around 11 hours crusing total, then time added on for pub stops etc. Is it feasible to do the Caldon in around 3-5 days without having to cruise from sun up to sun down, plus factor in 'refreshmant' stops at all those Camra recommended pubs!? Also based on what you guys have been saying, plus some independant googling, the Llangollen also sounds good, plus maybe a little shorter so bette alternative for 3-5 days?. Cheers Kieron

Hey guys, An absolute million thanks for all the replies. I can see a weekend ahead looking the routes and pubs etc you mentioned. Found the website waterscape.com, plus the canalplanner at http://www2.mihalis.net/canal/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?m=js; are these good base points to find out about the routes you mentioned?. By at least a weekend I mean't I would prefer around 4-5 days but not sure yet how everybodiy else is set up for getting time off, usual group planning headaches! Guess they could always meet us a couple of days into the trip. Many thanks again and keep the info coming, all inside knowledge about ease of parking etc is very handy. Right, tough week so just starting on the second pint of homebrew before canal study saturday! Thanks again Kieron

Hi There, I am completely new to all things boats and canals and wish to ask for some advice?. My brother is getting married and i'm the best man, hence organising the stag do... We are all a bit too long in the tooth for your normal style trips to somewhere in eastern europe etc so looking for something a bit more alternative... I thought a cool idea would be to get a boat and gently cruise along stopping off at pubs along the way. The ideal would be a canal passing through nice scenery, and has lots of interesting pubs selling fine ales, not just fizzy lager! (of course the last point is negotable, just a nice to have!) In case anybody would be put off replying to this becuase they would not want a group of beered up louts spoiling their favourite stretch of water.. please rest assured we are all in our forties and passed our wilder years. I'm just looking for a fun trip where we can have a few beers, look at some nice scenery, old pubs, pass through a few locks and generally catch up as we all live in different parts of the UK. Which brings me onto geography, basically anywhere would do, I live in Scotland, brother Ireland, some people Wales, others Sussex etc. Any help would be VERY greatly appreciated. Time wise definately at least a weekend, maybe a little longer if it's a must do. Many thanks Kieron