My grand tour 2019

[RufusR]

Hello all not been here for a while , busy and all that . Been living aboard for 4 years now but unfortunately can still only get in 1 x2week cruise a year on top on lots of little weekend excursions away from mooring  due to work commitments etc roll on retirement . This year my idea is to do the Warwick ring . We will be starting at Leighton Buzzard though so plan is to leg it to Braunston do the ring and leg it back in  2 weeks is this possible without 6 am starts ( we are on holiday ) at a reasonable pace ! and what do folks recommend as good mooring spots on the Ring ?

 

all advice gratefully received 

 

many thanks in advance 

 

R

 

 

[Jennifer McM]

Was chatting to a boater last year when we were in Leighton Buzzard, he did a ring from Leighton Buzzard, onto and along the Thames, onto the Oxford Canal towards Braunston, and then back to Leighton Buzzard - all in his two week's holiday! 

 

Check out https://canalplan.eu/cgi-bin/canal.cgi 

[RufusR]

Thames ring In two weeks is doable I know a few who did it in that but it is 12 hour days apparently , you really need 3 weeks to do it reasonably ( my in-laws took 6 weeks a couple years ago ) it’s a bit of stretch for us I honk in 2 weeks 

[Dr Bob]

The Warwickshire ring is 52 hours using canalplan. That is just over 7 days at 7 hours a day. We did it in 2017 in 8 days comfortably with an extra night stop in the middle of Brum as there were some locks shut on the west side of Brum - so we went clockwise up the north stratford rather than the GU.

For mooring spots - you need to tell us what you like. Do you want to be near a pub, near some shops or as far away from civilisation as possible? Do a search on the forum. Loads of posts in the last 12 months on this ring...and associated pubs. No wonder the Braunston to Napton stretch is the busiest on the network (or at least seems to be). The pub that won my 'best pub in the world...2018' is by bridge 25 on the GU in Long Itchington.

[RufusR]

Like pubs or tranquility don’t like urban .

 

thats great thanks for reply dr Bob sounds like it’s doable ?  worried about Brum though can we get through in a day I guess we don’t want to moor there if possible ? 

[Stilllearning]

Birmingham is well worth a visit, with some great restaurants and masses of canal history to gawp at.

[Dr Bob]

5 minutes ago, RufusR said:

Like pubs or tranquility don’t like urban .

 

thats great thanks for reply dr Bob sounds like it’s doable ?  worried about Brum though can we get through in a day I guess we don’t want to moor there if possible ? 

We were going clockwise and stopped for a night in warwick aiming to go north through Knowle and stop for a night north of Catherine de barnes then bypass brum in a day and stop somewhere nr Curdworth if I remember correctly. Problem was Garrison locks were shut and we only found out at the top of Hatton. We therefore decided to go via the north stratford and stop in the centre of Brum for the night. Totally safe in brum and worth a visit even if you dont like cities. We did it in July and got to brum at 7pm so parking was not easy with few spaces left. In hindsight this was a much better route than via Knowle and you get to see the centre of Brum. Try it, you wont be disappointed. I hate cities but the comparison of locking down under buildings and bridges with all the traffic jams around to then mooring in the vast open spaces north of Nuneaton  or between Braunston and Napton is worth the experience.

[Captain Pegg]

3 hours ago, RufusR said:

Hello all not been here for a while , busy and all that . Been living aboard for 4 years now but unfortunately can still only get in 1 x2week cruise a year on top on lots of little weekend excursions away from mooring  due to work commitments etc roll on retirement . This year my idea is to do the Warwick ring . We will be starting at Leighton Buzzard though so plan is to leg it to Braunston do the ring and leg it back in  2 weeks is this possible without 6 am starts ( we are on holiday ) at a reasonable pace ! and what do folks recommend as good mooring spots on the Ring ?

 

all advice gratefully received 

 

many thanks in advance 

 

R

 

 

It's definitely achievable and it won't need 6am starts. It'll be pretty much standard cruising days but no need to set off before breakfast or carry on after dinner in the evening.

 

Cape of Good Hope at Warwick and Greyhound at Sutton Stop are my recommendations for either beer or food. Go via Birmingham city centre if possible.

 

JP

Edited February 17, 2019 by Captain Pegg

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, RufusR said:

Like pubs or tranquility don’t like urban .

 

thats great thanks for reply dr Bob sounds like it’s doable ?  worried about Brum though can we get through in a day I guess we don’t want to moor there if possible ? 

Lovely moorings in Brum, even very quiet ones, we like to get behind the Sealife centre.