Jump to content

Which is the more leisurely?


pomkitanner

Featured Posts

I will opt for a 2 week hire but cannot choose. The 4 counties or the Leicestershire ring. When planning on the canal planner I get different answers to the advice from c&rt.  I like to keep cruising hours to 6 or 7 and have time for a lunch stop. If we can have a shorter day to explore villages, all the better, and dont want to find our last day is a 10 hour trip. So which fits the bill ? And which the more scenic ?  Hoping for next September,  covid permitting.  Thanks all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, pomkitanner said:

I will opt for a 2 week hire but cannot choose. The 4 counties or the Leicestershire ring. When planning on the canal planner I get different answers to the advice from c&rt.  I like to keep cruising hours to 6 or 7 and have time for a lunch stop. If we can have a shorter day to explore villages, all the better, and dont want to find our last day is a 10 hour trip. So which fits the bill ? And which the more scenic ?  Hoping for next September,  covid permitting.  Thanks all. 

Out of both of those we've only done the Leicester ring but am happy to recommend it. The Soar is quite stunningly pretty in parts.

 

The only things I would say is some of the locks will afford you a good work out. Nothing too onerous but something to bear iin mind.

 

Also the weather can send the Soar into flood quite quickly so you may have to turn back at short notice or you could even get stuck for a few days. Just plan ahead and take note of forecasts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Several  canal 'features' on the 4 counties.  Harecastle, Cheshire locks, side trip to Anderton, Shroppie rockings and valleys.  The Anchor at High Offley.

In a fortnight you might even go to Chester as  well without doing long days.

 

The Leicester ring up from Leicester to Kilby Bridge seems to suffer early from water shortage, mainly because CRT cannot keep water where it should be.  Features include goodish moorings in Leicester Foxton & Watford flights, Braunston??,   several long tunnels and if you had time in hand you could go to Stoke Bruerne.

I prefer the 4 Counties, but the Soar is nearly as good.

N

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What time of year are you considering. You have to think about if it is autumn them there is always the possibility of the rivers going into flood. You also have to consider how busy Foxton locks and Watford could be. There is often queues at the height of the summer. The 4 counties is a fair way from Napton which is where you are going from heathrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Tonka said:

What time of year are you considering. You have to think about if it is autumn them there is always the possibility of the rivers going into flood. You also have to consider how busy Foxton locks and Watford could be. There is often queues at the height of the summer. The 4 counties is a fair way from Napton which is where you are going from heathrow.

Its the september thats in autumn that he is thinking of :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

What time of year are you considering. You have to think about if it is autumn them there is always the possibility of the rivers going into flood. You also have to consider how busy Foxton locks and Watford could be. There is often queues at the height of the summer. The 4 counties is a fair way from Napton which is where you are going from heathrow.

To clarify, if i choose the 4 counties, i would base myself at Autherley junction, also with Napton narrowboats . Or, Countrywide cruisers at Brewood. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, pomkitanner said:

To clarify, if i choose the 4 counties, i would base myself at Autherley junction, also with Napton narrowboats . Or, Countrywide cruisers at Brewood. 

With either of those it would be easy to plan your cruise so that, if you reach Autherley Junction with a day or two to spare you could carry on down towards Kinver

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

With either of those it would be easy to plan your cruise so that, if you reach Autherley Junction with a day or two to spare you could carry on down towards Kinver

Thanks Maggie Patrick.  We would want to spend a day in Chester, but would likely take a bus for the short trip. With this in mind, is a trip to Kinver still on the cards ? And what is the attraction of Kinver itself , Pretty village  ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leicester Ring can suffer from too much or too little water depending on time of year so you can get caught out with timings. We one ended up doing the ring in a week due to not enough water to go back the way we had come.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The four counties from Autherley can be done in a week, so a relaxed fortnight. We combined the Chester and four counties together out of Bunbury a couple of years ago and this was an easy fortnight.

 

It sounds like you have the same sort of idea for cruising times as us at 6/7 hours a day with some time extra to stop and explore.

 

One of the most enjoyable trips we did was Napton up into Birmingham and onto Autherley via Wolverhampton. Pump out at their Autherley base at the end of week one and back via Great Haywood, Fradley, Fazely and down the Coventry and Oxford back to Napton. With your timings this was a comfortable 2 weeks with time in Birmingham, a day at the black country museum and another day at Shugborough hall.

 

We are going back out of Napton in July and thinking of the Leicester ring, but I freak out at the idea of getting delayed due to the river and not getting the boat back in time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd recommend the Four Counties. 

If you do start from Autherley, I would recommend that you fly in to Birmingham Airport. So much easier than using Heathrow. 

We have relatives in NZ and they always fly over using Emirates to Birmingham via Dubai.

Even if you do start from Napton or another base in that area, it's still easier to get there from Birmingham Airport than Heathrow, so if you have to book your flights now, Birmingham would give you more flexibility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read somewhere that hire boats are getting pretty well booked up for next year and it might be wise not to delay too.long before you book . You don't want to do a lot of planning then find that you can't get a boat to fit in with the trip you plan.

 

haggis

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, IanD said:

In two weeks you can easily do the Four Counties and the Caldon, which is a lovely trip -- we did exactly that (in a rather less leisurely 10 days) starting from Napton Narrowboats at Autherley Junction.

I think he might be lucky to find the Caldon, let alone navigate it in his "spare days" whilst doing the Four Counties. This summer it was terribly overgrown. Otherwise it's a nice route to spend a while dawdling about in the middle of nowhere, but there's nowt at either terminus so I'd not see it as a great add-on here. I may be out of step though, cos I feel much the same about the Montgomery! :help:

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, haggis said:

I read somewhere that hire boats are getting pretty well booked up for next year and it might be wise not to delay too.long before you book . You don't want to do a lot of planning then find that you can't get a boat to fit in with the trip you plan.

 

haggis

 

 

All the nice hire boats (from the usually recommended boatyards) for next year have been pretty much fully booked since the middle of this year (they were mostly gone when we booked at the end of July for July 2021), and I expect the situation is even worse now -- because of Covid-19 everyone is looking for holidays in the UK and canals are a popular choice... ?

 

The OP might be lucky and find a cancellation, but these tend to be snapped up by people who've already registered an interest to hire with a boatyard -- when we cancelled 3 days before the start date last year (actually we'd cancelled well before this but they screwed up) the boat was rebooked the same day, which at least avoided any arguments about cancellation fees.

 

My suggestion would be to grab (or at least reserve) anything that looks decent for the right dates and area, and don't dither -- if there is more than one possibility (unlikely!) you can put a hold on them for at least a couple of days while you decide which one to go for and then release the others, boatyards don't mind so long as you tell them that's what you're doing because demand is so high they'll have zero problem rebooking them.

 

There's nothing worse than finding a boat you like the look of, then delaying even a day or two while you check everything out and confirm dates with everybody, then going back to book it and finding out that it's gone. Guess how I know... ?

Edited by IanD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, John Brightley said:

I'd recommend the Four Counties. 

If you do start from Autherley, I would recommend that you fly in to Birmingham Airport. So much easier than using Heathrow. 

We have relatives in NZ and they always fly over using Emirates to Birmingham via Dubai.

Even if you do start from Napton or another base in that area, it's still easier to get there from Birmingham Airport than Heathrow, so if you have to book your flights now, Birmingham would give you more flexibility.

Excellent idea . Knew about Manchester flights, but not BHX . and not only Emirates, Qatar, Swiss and others all fly into BHX  depending on our chosen stopover . Much shorter taxi ride . Thanks for the idea. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, pomkitanner said:

Excellent idea . Knew about Manchester flights, but not BHX . and not only Emirates, Qatar, Swiss and others all fly into BHX  depending on our chosen stopover . Much shorter taxi ride . Thanks for the idea. 

Thanks. It's a pleasure. You might also note that Birmingham Airport has its own mainline rail station, so if you wish you can get a direct train to Wolverhampton (near Autherley) or Rugby (for Napton area)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, pomkitanner said:

Thanks Maggie Patrick.  We would want to spend a day in Chester, but would likely take a bus for the short trip. With this in mind, is a trip to Kinver still on the cards ? And what is the attraction of Kinver itself , Pretty village  ? 

To some extent I'm thinking for you to avoid "thumb twiddle time" if it looks like you'll be back at base very early, en route to Kinver (you might not get that far) is some beautiful countryside and the Bratch Locks, Kinver itself is an attactive village with some interesting features

I'm assuming there are buses into Chester from Barbridge, there are trains from Nantwich as well, although the station is a bit of a walk from the canal. If you go down to Chester in the Boat you can moor almost under the city walls, if you press on down Northgate it is (1) a very impressive three-rise staircase and (2) another rather impressive place to moor. That said, Chester is a day each way off the ring

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.