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Most Locks in a Week


Wishihadaname

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How about the South Pennine Ring? Huddersfield Broad, Huddersfield Narrow, Ashton, Rochdale, Calder and Hebble. 197 locks. This will take 68 hours and 17 minutes which is 9 days, 5 hours and 17 minutes at 7 hours per day according to CanalplanAC, so longer than your 7 days and timings for the Standedge tunnel need sorting out, so a fortnight is better. Boats can be hired at Sowerby. Longer time than you were asking, but more locks than you can shake a stick at. Alternatively, there and back from Sowerby Bridge along either then Huddersfield, or Rochdale to fit time constraints.

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23 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

How about the South Pennine Ring? Huddersfield Broad, Huddersfield Narrow, Ashton, Rochdale, Calder and Hebble. 197 locks. This will take 68 hours and 17 minutes which is 9 days, 5 hours and 17 minutes at 7 hours per day according to CanalplanAC, so longer than your 7 days and timings for the Standedge tunnel need sorting out, so a fortnight is better. Boats can be hired at Sowerby. Longer time than you were asking, but more locks than you can shake a stick at. Alternatively, there and back from Sowerby Bridge along either then Huddersfield, or Rochdale to fit time constraints.

We did the (fabulous) South Pennine Ring in 10 days on a Shire boat from Sowerby Bridge, see here:

 

 

Stourport ring is another great week if you haven't done it, also highly recommended (especially for good pubs!) -- see here:

 

 

Just be aware that if you want to hire a boat in March you might find availability tricky due to recent popularity of boat hire, though March is a less busy month.

Edited by IanD
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12 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

How about the South Pennine Ring? Huddersfield Broad, Huddersfield Narrow, Ashton, Rochdale, Calder and Hebble. 197 locks. This will take 68 hours and 17 minutes which is 9 days, 5 hours and 17 minutes at 7 hours per day according to CanalplanAC, so longer than your 7 days and timings for the Standedge tunnel need sorting out, so a fortnight is better. Boats can be hired at Sowerby. Longer time than you were asking, but more locks than you can shake a stick at. Alternatively, there and back from Sowerby Bridge along either then Huddersfield, or Rochdale to fit time constraints.

By 'eck. 197 Yorkshire and Mancunian locks in March. That's brave Jen. Also worth remembering that around then there will only be 12 hours of daylight to want to do them in each day, probably about 6.30-6.30 ish.. Some stretches can be a slog if it is heaving it down with rain and on a tightly fixed schedule. I know it rains everywhere, but we do seem to get more than our share near the Pennines.

 

Not quite the over 100 locks requested by the OP but close to it, The Cheshire Ring (92 locks, 97 miles) and Four Counties (94 locks, 110 miles) have also been firm favourites with boaters and are doable in a week..

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3 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

By 'eck. 197 Yorkshire and Mancunian locks in March. That's brave Jen. Also worth remembering that around then there will only be 12 hours of daylight to want to do them in each day, probably about 6.30-6.30 ish.. Some stretches can be a slog if it is heaving it down with rain and on a tightly fixed schedule. I know it rains everywhere, but we do seem to get more than our share near the Pennines.

 

Not quite the over 100 locks requested by the OP but close to it, The Cheshire Ring (92 locks, 97 miles) and Four Counties (94 locks, 110 miles) have also been firm favourites with boaters and are doable in a week..

We see about 100 locks in a week as "normal" when there are 4 of us on the boat, the South Pennine Ring wasn't too hard either. But we really like locks, I think 35 in a day is our best so far...

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I did 225 locks single handed in a week's cruise earlier this year. I may have slightly cheated because it was 8 days and I did have assistance on one of those days. I was a bit knackered at the end of it.

 

The overnight stops were Droitwich - Alvechurch - Lapworth - Stratford-on-Avon - Kingswood - Birmingham (via Camp Hill) - Stourbridge - Stourport - Droitwich 

 

 

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You could start at Autherly and go up to Wolverhampton then Walsall via Ryders Green. Walsall flight, Moshes, the Ganzy, Perry Bar. Garrison, Camp Hill i Knowle,  Lapworth,  Netherton, Blowers Green, Delph,  Stourbridge 16 and finish off up the Staffs and Worcs. 63 hours and 158 locks.

 

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Just looking at suggestions above a trip round the Stourport Ring with a detour to Kingswood Jn via the Stratford one way and the GU the other is 167 locks. It would need 6 days at 10 hours plus 5 hours on the first day and an hour to get back to base on the last day.

 

There's also the option of going via Droitwich which removes a few miles but only 2 locks from the trip (one of which will be worked for you in any case); or going via Delph and Stourbridge rather than Wolverhampton which is 13 locks fewer.

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21 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I did 225 locks single handed in a week's cruise

If we are getting into the I've done this territory then Lowesmoor Basin in  Worcester to Iver Boatyard near Slough single handed in five and a half days,  277 locks and 175 miles. Mostly starting before 4am and finishing at 8pm and then to the pub 😱  I was 20 years younger then, I couldn't do it now.

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1 minute ago, Loddon said:

If we are getting into the I've done this territory then Lowesmoor Basin in  Worcester to Iver Boatyard near Slough single handed in five and a half days,  277 locks and 175 miles. Mostly starting before 4am and finishing at 8pm and then to the pub 😱  I was 20 years younger then, I couldn't do it now.

 

I wouldn't do my trip again, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a hire boat holiday. I was trying to cover some local waterways I hadn't done for a while ahead of my long summer trip and also trying to avoid Tardebigge single handed twice in a week. As you are clearly aware you can't go far in my neck of the woods without doing a lot of locks so you've just got to get on with it.

 

It's noticeable how few volockies you encounter when you use the whole day for boating rather than just a few hours in the middle of the day.

 

Anyway we'll get @matty40s regaling us with tales of the day he single handed from Stowe Hill to Droitwich Marina within the hours of daylight if we're not careful.

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15 minutes ago, Loddon said:

There was a plan by @Neil TNC a couple of years ago to do 100 locks in a day starting below Tardebigge. Unfortunately it got cancelled quite why I can't remember.

Think we are all too old for it now.

 

I've often discussed with my sometime boating partner the possibility of having a crack at that. It's easier now the Droitwich is open - which it wasn't when the TNC tried it - because it puts more locks closer to the bottom of the Astwood/Stoke/Tardebigge flight.

 

I think it was an emergency stoppage that did for the TNC. 

 

My other mad idea is the Warwickshire Ring on a weekend hire.

 

Edited by Captain Pegg
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42 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

My other mad idea is the Warwickshire Ring on a weekend hire.

 

I knew of the Warwickshire ring being done twice in a week - two handed plus a baby on board (it was one of the UCC Hewitts)

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3 hours ago, Wishihadaname said:

Looking at hiring a boat with an active crew this March. We have done both the Warwickshire and Leicester ring in a week each already so are up for a lot of locks. Looking at the Avon ring next. Any other suggestions for 100+ locks in a week? 

I hope that you bear in mind that there will still be stoppages during March so you will need to scrutinise your route carefully.

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19 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Wigan flight 5 times, but you'll need to do it six times to return the boat.

 

I don't know what you'd do on the other four days ...

In about 1968 we had half a day in hand  before returning our hire boat to Market Harborough. So we went up the Foxton flight, winded and came straight back down again, in the process connecting with where we had turned back on the previous year's trip. I can't imagine that CRT would be too keen on us doing that nowadays!

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10 hours ago, Wishihadaname said:

Ahh 7 is my limit due to work. 

 

I know exactly how you feel old boy.

7 locks is my limit for a week, but in my case its due to excessive idleness.

 

Occasionally I have to do all 7 locks in a single day, and then I spend the next 6 days on the chaise longue with a martini, being fed peeled grapes by the serving staff.

 

Edited by Tony1
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