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2 month hire - where to go ?


cisamcgu

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1 minute ago, cisamcgu said:

Thanks for all the advice, we managed to moor in the basin without crashing or sinking - so a victory for us. Looking forward to spending a couple of days here, sadly there is no show at the RSC until Tuesday evening, and we will have to leave by 4pm on the Tuesday, our 48 hours will be up - oh well, maybe next time.

 

Thanks again

 

Andrew :)

joeystrat.jpg

I was interviewed by Sky News last time we were moored there.

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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.

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7 minutes ago, cisamcgu said:

That is an excellent idea - thank you !!

I'd advise walking over there and scouting out where you want to moor.  Personally I like it between the chain ferry and the lock, much quieter down there.

 

Please keep us all updated with your travels.  It's always nice to experience the waterways again through the eyes of a newer boater.

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1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

I'd advise walking over there and scouting out where you want to moor.  Personally I like it between the chain ferry and the lock, much quieter down there.

 

Please keep us all updated with your travels.  It's always nice to experience the waterways again through the eyes of a newer boater.

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

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Hello again everyone,

 

well Stratford was a great success, although we didn't go onto the Avon in the end. We are now in Shirley, south of Birmingham (after having to call CRT about a broken lock just out of the basin in Stratford) and plan to go to Gas Street Basin tomorrow for a day or two - hopefully there will be space to moor. After there we will be going north onto the Shropshire Union via Wolverhampton - am I right in thinking that 

 

a) Brum to Wolves is an easy 1 day cruise

b) It is OK to moor in the centre of Wolverhampton before we tackle the 21 locks out of Wolverhampton ?

 

Many thanks

Andrew

ps This is a travelogue of our voyage

 

 

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There are lots of options for mooring around Gas Street, most continue along and moor on the straight section by the arena, overlooked by the Lego giraffe.

At Wolverhampton there is a secure offside mooring which some people prefer to use but there is no access to the street so unable to leave the boat.  There are moorings by the top lock on both sides, it can be a bit noisy with traffic and you can get a few drinkers sat on the grass.  We prefer to do either a stop over at Tipton and then from there down the 21 in one day or sometimes from Birmingham straight through and down the 21 in one long day.

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We did Brindley Place through to Breward on the Shroppie in one day a few weeks ago because we didn't want to stop at the top of the 21. It was a long day but doable if you don't mind an early start and having lunch on the move.

 

Next time though we're going to spend the day exploring the old main line and take our time, then stop at the BCLM and have a trip to Mad O'Rourke's.

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We usually go to Compton, then have fish and chips.  If we are heading the towards Great Haywood or up the Shroppie we drop down the lock to the winding hole and come back up.

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Hello again everyone.

 

We are currently moored in Wolverhampton after battling the weed infested canal between Tipton and here :) Not sure I would bother coming back to Wolverhampton again, even at the mooring the music from the nearby pub is deafening :( 

 

Anyway, at a lock a person mentioned to me that there had been, sadly, a fatal stabbing in Pendeford on the Shropshire Union canal, and the canal was currently closed while to police do underwater searches. HERE. I have checked the CRT stoppages, but it isn't mentioned - does anyone know if we will be able to get onto the Shropshire Union tomorrow at Autherley Junction ?

 

Thanks for all your help so far, you have been tremendous :)

 

Andrew

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5 hours ago, cisamcgu said:

Hello again everyone.

 

We are currently moored in Wolverhampton after battling the weed infested canal between Tipton and here :) Not sure I would bother coming back to Wolverhampton again, even at the mooring the music from the nearby pub is deafening :( 

 

Anyway, at a lock a person mentioned to me that there had been, sadly, a fatal stabbing in Pendeford on the Shropshire Union canal, and the canal was currently closed while to police do underwater searches. HERE. I have checked the CRT stoppages, but it isn't mentioned - does anyone know if we will be able to get onto the Shropshire Union tomorrow at Autherley Junction ?

 

Thanks for all your help so far, you have been tremendous :)

 

Andrew

Reapers Walk seems to be the first bridge across the Shroppie after Autherley Junction and stop lock. So if the canal is closed my guess is you will be able to get onto the Shroppie and through the stop lock, but not much further until the canal is reopened. You can moor on visitor moorings, or indeed on the Napton Narrowboats mooring as most of their boats will probably be out as this is half term week.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello again everyone,

 

We are still on our 2 month jaunt, now almost exactly half way through. We are on the Middlewich branch, aiming to go through Middlewich tomorrow (unless we decide that the Folk and Boat festival is for us) and go south down the Trent and Mersey. I see that we will have to go through the Harecastle tunnel after a day or two. According to a CRT volunteer at Grindley Brook, as long as we turn up between 8am and 12pm we don't need to book.

 

So our plan is to moor at the Red Bull in Church Lawton but this leaves us 12 locks to do before we reach the entrance - this would probably mean a very early start to get there before noon. Is there any other way to do this - the early start doesn't worry us, but it would be a shame if there was an easier way ?

 

Thanks

Andrew

 

This is a travelogue of our voyage

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I would press on to the Blue Bell at Kidsgrove. It was always an excellent real ale pub but I haven’t been in since the pandemic. It appears to do food as well now from their website.

 

You should moor in the pound below the last lock before the tunnel. The pub is right by the junction with the Macc. 30 minutes tops to the tunnel Bear in mind that the pub is shut on Mondays.

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Thanks John - that is an excellent suggestion. Also, I seem to have misread the map, and the Red Bull is only a couple of locks away so that is back on the table as an option.

 

So, Blue Bell or the Red Bull - two choice - thanks everyone and apologies for making a mistake about the number of locks 😟

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I wasn’t looking at your original plan, but yes the Red Bull is by the services and quite close to the Blue Bell. I did once eat at the Red Bull before walking up to the Blue Bell in the days when the latter didn’t do food. Now it does I can’t see any point in the Red Bull. It’s OK but the Blue Bell is (or at least was) one of the best.

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If there is a mooring by the Red Bull services I would be inclined to stop there and walk up and check there is mooring above the lock as sometimes that last pound can get full and you don't want to be mooring round by the tunnel entrance.

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Just now, Rob-M said:

If there is a mooring by the Red Bull services I would be inclined to stop there and walk up and check there is mooring above the lock as sometimes that last pound can get full and you don't want to be mooring round by the tunnel entrance.

Really? I’ve moored in the pound below the top lock many times and I don’t remember more than one other boat in what is a longish pound.

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7 minutes ago, JohnEW2912 said:

Really? I’ve moored in the pound below the top lock many times and I don’t remember more than one other boat in what is a longish pound.

On the few occasions I've been through and wanted to stop there has been a continuous line of boats, last time I was heading north so just carried on.

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