john6767

The boat Inn is very good for food, not cheap though and if the weather is not good, ie you don't want to be outside then you need to book.

Yes that was exactly my point in that their usage pattern is "funny". We have seen a queue of at least 3 boats waiting to go up the top lock though, in addition to a big queue at the bottom, which comes back to the point that these in the main are inexperienced hirers who don't actually want to do any locks, and they faff about quite a bit with the 2 they have to do. Your "tidal flow" point is also a good one, as we always aim to be at Llangollen over the weekend when it is quiet, we therefore tend to find it very busy at New Marton with boats arriving at the top on with way back and we are going to Llangollen and busy at the bottom on our way back with boats making their way to Llangollen.

We did Calcutt marina to Hawkesbury and back last week. We left the marina late afternoon on the Sunday and we back on our pontoon at 2pm on Thursday, so similar time except you will be Monday to Friday and need to be back by 9:30am on Friday. We moored about a mile north of Braunston, All Oaks Wood, Hawkesbury junction, top of Hillmorton locks, then back to Calcutt. I would suggest that for last night you need to at least be in the area of bridge 102/103 between Braunston and Napton, or better above Calcutt locks (plenty of time to get to Stockton), so you can’t really have a night at Hawkesbury. Perhaps something like, a mile north of Braunston, Ansty, turn at Hawkesbury and back to bottom of Hillmorton, top of Calcutt locks. As to eating with such a short trip it may be better to eat on 5he boat in the evenings, but the pub in Ansty may be OK (never used it personally). There are other places you can moor, just look for piling, like by the prison/Dunchurch Pools Marina. If you want to eat at the Greyhound, then it would need to be lunch, we ate there in the evening, and the food has gone downhill from what it used to be, but it was adequate. Personally I use the tunnel light in Newbold tunnel, you will have a working one so there is no reason not to. The paddle gear on Calcutt locks is different, like all the 1930’s locks on that section, not really anything specific you need to know, just use the towpath paddle (with boat on towpath side)if you are on your own, it is fast enough on one paddle. The volunteers at Hillmorton never leave the bottom pair of locks, they are quick and simple to do on your own. Just pick the side closest to you favour, although I recon the towpath side ones are quicker, so if it is even pick that side.

My observations with New Marton is that they are quite strange in their usage pattern. In the summer for much of the daylight hours there is a queue both above and below the locks. There are a lot of hire boats that these two locks are the only ones that they do, so you see a lot of boats mooring up, lock the boat up, walk up to the bottom locks and try and work out what they have to do, so it can take an age for a boat to go through, which is why there are queues, not because the lock is being cycled every 5 mins. If you know what you are doing you can certainly cycle these locks quickly though. But I would have thought even with this going on the throughput would be cycling the locks at least 4 times an hour for at least 10 hours a day in the peak summer

Are you offering your garden 🙂

Best wishes to Mr Monkey for a speedy recovery, it can’t be nice.

No results yet?

I would say that the Avon has to be one of the most interesting and pleasant rivers to cruise. For a river the Avon is well provided with overnight moorings, particularly on the upper Avon. The Severn can be a bit boring for sure though as you can not see much with the hIgh banks, and there is certainly a lack of moorings, but it’s always nice to give the boat engine a bit of a workout.

Well done to everyone that took part, things must be getting a bit hazy now! Hopefully I will be well enough to be back next year.

It did use to issue ANT licences, but the boat is now based in Tewkesbury. It think you mean Evesham lock, they check your licence on your phone but I don’t think they sell them. With COVID, ANT switched to paying for visitor licences and moorings to online, it’s all on their web site.

I don’t think so it is basically online now, or I presume the info boat which is now in Tewkesbury not Stratford. It is simple to do online, and instantaneous, so do it when you are about to leave Bancroft basin for the river.

We have Blink cameras at home, they seem to work really well. The range that they will connect to the sync hub and the router seems very good, we have once camera mounted on the garage which is remote from the house and it has a good connection to both sync hub and router both located in the house.

Calcutt don’t have their own lift at the moment, did that actually take a wide beam anyway? They hire a crane in to lift off a truck.

This year we are not able to take part in the Challenge for personal reasons, but reading this is very depressing, I can’t understand why CRT have chosen to do this. Hopefull Sue can make some progress with CRT, and this new event timing can be changed such that it does not conflict with the Challenge. I know if we were taking part this would have a major impact on us. One thing that does make the impact bigger is the new this year Challenge rule that the 6 hours of break time has to be taken as a single 6 hour long break. In previous years we have taken 4 hours overnight, and then 2 hours at then end, ie. Getting to the finish point by 12 noon. If this event timing can not be moved, then perhaps the Challenge 6 hour rule could be relaxed so you can choose to take less time overnight and finish earlier. As it stands I think all you can do is go straight through and finish at 8am taking all 6 hours at the end. Anyway good luck to all those taking part, hopefully a way to make this work can be found.

Yes you need a ANT licence even if you never leave the marina, from the marina web site “An Avon Navigation Trust license must be displayed when using any part of the waters of the River Avon, including marinas, such as Shakespeare Marina, basins and backwaters.”

I would be quite interested in mooring there for a year, but it is eye watering expensive, plus you have the additional costs of both ANT and CRT licences. I was very surprised to see that it is totally set out for narrowboats and not cruisers.

I would agree, past the chain ferry is quieter and you have grass between the river and the footpath so people are not walking right next to the boat. This time last year

I know that you are not keen on the river, but now you are there and can see it is not scary, you could stay Tuesday night by dropping down to the river and mooring on the Recreation Ground (far side from where you are) . All you need to do is go on the ANT web site and pay £5 for mooring in Stratford.

From Facebook, RCR are on site Based on what has been said on Facebook the sinking happened after dark last night, and one of the three boats has been abandoned, the whereabouts of the third unknown.

The services are on the opposite side to the museum. You do not need to pay to moor on either side. You can get out from the museum side with a BW key, and I believe there is a gate in the fence on the non towpath side, but not personally used it.

I thought this thread was saying it was the third lock up at Napton, ie the one above the lock that was widened, that was now causing an issue. So that third lock up is lock 10, it was lock 9 that was widened. However I am confused though, as the above photo looks to be of lock 9, due to the bridge in the background, so if that’s the case this is all talking about an issue that no longer exists.

Wilnecote station is closer to the canal, but not that many of the Birmingham to Tamworth trains stop there so you need to pick your train.

If you are running out of adjustment in the 1300 then the 1295 should be fine

By the wall at Sharpness is one of my favourite places to moor. Not one to stay in one place for a long time, but 5 days there is very pleasant in nice weather

Checked it doing what