Americans on Holiday, An Introduction

[Grassman]

If you do decide to go into Birmingham city centre (recommended) moor at the Sea Life end because it's much quieter at night than at the Gas St Basin and Mailbox end.

 

Like with most large cities the approach from the outskirts through the suburbs sometimes aren't so nice, and often aren't recommended for an overnight stop, but once you get into the main city centres they are great. Whichever direction you are approaching Birmingham from, there are plenty of threads on here advising where to overnight on the outskirts before making the final day's journey into the city centre.

[Frankgh]

3 hours ago, Grassman said:

If you do decide to go into Birmingham city centre (recommended) moor at the Sea Life end because it's much quieter at night than at the Gas St Basin and Mailbox end.

 

Like with most large cities the approach from the outskirts through the suburbs sometimes aren't so nice, and often aren't recommended for an overnight stop, but once you get into the main city centres they are great. Whichever direction you are approaching Birmingham from, there are plenty of threads on here advising where to overnight on the outskirts before making the final day's journey into the city centre.

 That is sound advise! Thank you!

[Kudzucraft]

On 19/08/2023 at 16:15, Frankgh said:

Have you had any luck on figuring out how to stay more than 6 months? Some places in Asian counties you can just pop across a boarder to reset your tourist visa clock. England is not have that as I understand.

 

 Wrote an answer but don't see it.  But yes, you apply for a VISA.  You can ever pay and be pay to in the Health Insurance plan.  Been a while since I looked at it so don't remember all the details.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Kudzucraft

[zimzim]

My other half flatly refuses to take the tiller for even a minute, unless (as I have now discovered) we are on a river and I am threatening to pee my pants if I don't get a quick comfort break.

 

First decision if going anti-clock will be whether to do the Droitwich Canal (which is interesting) or head straight down the Worcester and Birmingham.

 

Anti-clock ring means a few hours whizzing downstream on Severn followed by a few days plodding upstream on Avon.

Clockwise means a few days downstream on Avon followed by several hours fighting upstream on Severn.

 

If going up the Avon, locks will require a little more care, as already stated.

 

[Frankgh]

7 hours ago, Kudzucraft said:

 

 Wrote an answer but don't see it.  But yes, you apply for a VISA.  You can ever pay and be pay to in the Health Insurance plan.  Been a while since I looked at it so don't remember all the details.

 

I wonder if all the hassle could be avoided if I just arrive on a small boat from France? I'm just kidding of course as we Colonialists have our own issues on that topic!

3 hours ago, zimzim said:

My other half flatly refuses to take the tiller for even a minute, unless (as I have now discovered) we are on a river and I am threatening to pee my pants if I don't get a quick comfort break.

 

First decision if going anti-clock will be whether to do the Droitwich Canal (which is interesting) or head straight down the Worcester and Birmingham.

 

Anti-clock ring means a few hours whizzing downstream on Severn followed by a few days plodding upstream on Avon.

Clockwise means a few days downstream on Avon followed by several hours fighting upstream on Severn.

 

If going up the Avon, locks will require a little more care, as already stated.

 

This was a great input. I was considering the flow of the Severn but did not think about the flow of the Avon. All that said it seems to me downstream on the Severn is the way to go.

[Ianws]

28 minutes ago, Frankgh said:

I wonder if all the hassle could be avoided if I just arrive on a small boat from France?

That could end up in a completely different barge holiday. 

[zimzim]

23 hours ago, Grassman said:

If you do decide to go into Birmingham city centre (recommended) moor at the Sea Life end because it's much quieter at night than at the Gas St Basin and Mailbox end.

 

Like with most large cities the approach from the outskirts through the suburbs sometimes aren't so nice, and often aren't recommended for an overnight stop, but once you get into the main city centres they are great. Whichever direction you are approaching Birmingham from, there are plenty of threads on here advising where to overnight on the outskirts before making the final day's journey into the city centre.

Yes - Birmingham is worthwhile if you have time. If you are doing the ring anti-clock and if you find you have a day available to add to your trip when you get to that point, then you could replace, say, the 1 day jump from

Bluebell Cider House > Alvechurch

with a 2 day hop such as 

Bluebell Cider House > Birmingham Centre > Alvechurch

 

This avoids any of those less than desirable overnight moorings. 

In any event, there are notably zero locks in this part of the journey - an ideal preparation for Tardebigge!

[Frankgh]

On 23/08/2023 at 11:08, Kudzucraft said:

 

 Wrote an answer but don't see it.  But yes, you apply for a VISA.  You can ever pay and be pay to in the Health Insurance plan.  Been a while since I looked at it so don't remember all the details.

 

Maybe a "Creative Worker Visa"? Would is matter that I only have 16 subscribers on my channel? 

[LadyG]

On 23/08/2023 at 20:54, zimzim said:

My other half flatly refuses to take the tiller for even a minute, unless (as I have now discovered) we are on a river and I am threatening to pee my pants....

Good heavens, the one major advantage of the male, is peeing over the stern. Don't they teach you anything at school?

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Good heavens, the one major advantage of the male, is peeing over the stern. Don't they teach you anything at school?

 

Depends which way the wind is blowing. DAMHIKT 😅😂

Edited September 3, 2023 by cuthound
Missing letter

[zimzim]

6 hours ago, LadyG said:

Good heavens, the one major advantage of the male, is peeing over the stern. Don't they teach you anything at school?

I confess to having considered it...... but apart from the overriding sense of decorum, I didn't fancy having to explain why the boat was all over the place and my feet were wet.

[Frankgh]

Due to the encouragement I have received here I have now added the Black Country Ring as a possibility. I would love to see the Trent and Mersey

 

I think the Avon Ring is still our first choice but I am warming to the idea of some urban cruising. However, I think I have my heart set on the Avon Ring.

 

However, I had overlooked a planned route Cafwin offers: Down the Worcester Bham to Tewkesbury, on to the Severn to the Gloucester Sharpness to Patch Bridge and back up the Severn to Hawford then the entire Droitwich canal back to the marina. This would provide very short cruising days and only 41 locks!

 

I am usually more of a "spur of the moment" guy. This is what happens when you give me too much time to plan!

[Rob-M]

The trip down the Severn from Tewkesbury to Gloucester is fairly dull.

[john6767]

8 hours ago, Frankgh said:

Due to the encouragement I have received here I have now added the Black Country Ring as a possibility. I would love to see the Trent and Mersey

 

I think the Avon Ring is still our first choice but I am warming to the idea of some urban cruising. However, I think I have my heart set on the Avon Ring.

 

However, I had overlooked a planned route Cafwin offers: Down the Worcester Bham to Tewkesbury, on to the Severn to the Gloucester Sharpness to Patch Bridge and back up the Severn to Hawford then the entire Droitwich canal back to the marina. This would provide very short cruising days and only 41 locks!

 

I am usually more of a "spur of the moment" guy. This is what happens when you give me too much time to plan!

For context we are currently in the process of doing basically the Avon ring with a side venture into Birmingham.  We have done it all many times before and we live in the area, and are needing to stay near home at the moment.

 

When  people ask about the (Warwickshire) Avon I would always say it is fabulous, and I am certainly reminded by that fact at the moment.  Even more so than other places at the moment it is very quiet and there has been no problems mooring anywhere that we want.

 

One big issue of the Avon ring is the number of locks, but one thing I noticed talking to a couple of hire boaters last month out of ABC in Worcester is that a good option is perhaps not to do the whole ring, but to concentrate on the “bottom” (in elevation) half of it.

 

So from Droitwich what you could do is down the W&B to Worcester which will give a good taste of narrow canals, and then down the Severn to Tewkesbury.  The Severn is a little boring, but is a good way of getting from A to B as it is fast.  You could stop at Upton if there is space, but it is only a half day from Worcester to Tewkesbury so you do not need to stop on the Severn at all really.  You can then enjoy the Avon, although you will at this point be going up the Avon which is hard work as the locks, particularly on the upper Avon above Evesham are very fierce going up.

 

At this point you can treat Stratford as you destination and you could have 2 nights there, one on the river and one in the canal basin.  Depending on timing you could go up the South Stratford canal part way.  Then you retrace your route down the Avon to Tewkesbury to then up the Severn past Worcester and through one more river lock and onto the Droitwich canal, and back to base.

 

You could obviously deviate from Tewkesbury down to Gloucester, but with the time you have available it don’t think if is a good use of time, and just more Severn, which could be very show coming back up if there is a good flow on at that time of year.

[agg221]

The first time we hired (having previously had a couple of canal holidays with my parents) we went round the Avon ring. My brother and I were the only ones in the group with any experience and it was a very pleasant route. There were five of us and we went round the ring with a side trip to Birmingham, in a week. We did travel longer days though. We hired from Wootton Wawen (near Stratford) so the other end of the river section.

 

Experience from the earlier trips where we had planned to go on the Severn and couldn't because of the river levels meant that we covered the river section first as the levels were fine, and then finished on the canal section - this was against the advice of the hire company who suggested we go anticlockwise as you are planning to do. It turned out to be a good idea though - all their other boats followed their advice and couldn't get back; we were the only boat to make it back to base!

 

I certainly wouldn't regard it as too difficult a route. I would probably look to run for longer on the first few days, perhaps sacrificing long stops at Worcester, Tewkesbury and Evesham for getting a bit ahead of plan time-wise and clear of any potential issues with river levels. Once you are at Stratford and off the river you can slow down. That would also give you a bit more time in hand at the beginning of the trip, which would allow you to decide what pace suits you without any need to push on to get back. If you find you like shorter days you could just go round the ring, but if you find you like cruising for longer then  you could use the time in hand to go into Birmingham (only a short run up from Kingswood Junction and no extra locks) and then if you still have time in hand at the end of the trip, you could go on past Droitwich and down to Worcester again whichever way you didn't go the first time, spend a bit more time there and head back the other way (Droitwich is part of a mini-ring with the Severn, the bottom of the Worcester and Birmingham and the Droitwich canals).

 

Alec

[Captain Pegg]

8 hours ago, Rob-M said:

The trip down the Severn from Tewkesbury to Gloucester is fairly dull.

It can be interesting on a tide.

 

But to address the OPs preference for the Avon Ring I know plenty of folk who think it’s the best ring you can do. I suspect that’s because of the variety of cruising.

 

It will be full on for a one week hire but I really don’t think there’s much to choose between which way you go. The Severn at normal water levels is a placid river and easy to cruise up or down stream. The Avon is much smaller and therefore rises and falls more readily but the locks are certainly less volatile going downstream.

 

 

 

[Frankgh]

It sounds like great advice all around. Thank you all!

[Frankgh]

Less then 2 months until our trip! Yippee! I have a question about laundry; Can I pull into any marina and tie up at a guest mooring to use the laundry facilities? We will be out for a fortnight and like to pack as light as possible.

[bizzard]

2 hours ago, Frankgh said:

Less then 2 months until our trip! Yippee! I have a question about laundry; Can I pull into any marina and tie up at a guest mooring to use the laundry facilities? We will be out for a fortnight and like to pack as light as possible.

Some marina's would allow that, but if your travelling light why not d/i/y. I do all my small stuff in the sink with a homemade Rubbing board, Pre rinse in the river to get most of the soap out then a final rinse in the sink. If your hiring a trad style boat all the better, rig up a little washing line with a bit of string above the engine,'' clothe pegs are cheap and useful for other things too, like when you visit a sanitory station to empty the toilet or pump out, just pop one on your nose and hold your breath''  things will dry quickly there above the engine. If a cruiser stern boat rig up a couple of washing line front and back. Scrubbing boards can be bought cheap online or in oil shops here. The macho gueezers that won't relinquish the helm for er-indoors to have a go are easily identified, they almost always stand bolt upright, chin in the air like an admiral of the fleet, wear Breton or Captains hats and frequently bellow out orders and instructions to er- indoors at the front, sometimes by megaphone. The only time that Macho captain is likely to let er-indoors have a go at the helm is when he in quiet panic has made a huge boob himself, and big danger is iminent like he's headed the boat straight at a weir by mistake,bellows for her to come and have a go at the tiller, when disaster strikes, grabs the tiller back from her and blames her for the terrible results, Hope you have a tremendous and great holiday.

Edited February 26 by bizzard

[Paul C]

7 hours ago, Frankgh said:

Less then 2 months until our trip! Yippee! I have a question about laundry; Can I pull into any marina and tie up at a guest mooring to use the laundry facilities? We will be out for a fortnight and like to pack as light as possible.

 

Depends on the marina but I'd imagine yes - but at a price. I can't remember what our marina charges but its something like £4-8. If its a 2 week trip I'd normally get through it with just packing more, but I appreciate you may be packing light, coming from America.

[cuthound]

The Aylesbury Canal Society publish a Launderette List, detailing public launderettes close to the canal network.

 

http://aylesburycanal.org.uk/laundrette-list/

 

It is what we used to do before buying a washing machine for the boat.

Edited February 26 by cuthound
To remove full stops masquerading as spaces.

[Frankgh]

5 hours ago, Paul C said:

 

Depends on the marina but I'd imagine yes - but at a price. I can't remember what our marina charges but its something like £4-8. If its a 2 week trip I'd normally get through it with just packing more, but I appreciate you may be packing light, coming from America.

There is no such thing as a free lunch! It’s a vacation, I don’t mind paying for a little convenience. 

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

The Aylesbury Canal Society publish a Launderette List, detailing public launderettes close to.the canal.network.

 

http://aylesburycanal.org.uk/laundrette-list/

 

It is what we used to do before buying a washing machine for the boat.

That sounds like it should be standard equipment onboard a hire boat!

11 hours ago, bizzard said:

Some marina's would allow that, but if your travelling light why not d/i/y. I do all my small stuff in the sink with a homemade Rubbing board, Pre rinse in the river to get most of the soap out then a final rinse in the sink. If your hiring a trad style boat all the better, rig up a little washing line with a bit of string above the engine,'' clothe pegs are cheap and useful for other things too, like when you visit a sanitory station to empty the toilet or pump out, just pop one on your nose and hold your breath''  things will dry quickly there above the engine. If a cruiser stern boat rig up a couple of washing line front and back. Scrubbing boards can be bought cheap online or in oil shops here. The macho gueezers that won't relinquish the helm for er-indoors to have a go are easily identified, they almost always stand bolt upright, chin in the air like an admiral of the fleet, wear Breton or Captains hats and frequently bellow out orders and instructions to er- indoors at the front, sometimes by megaphone. The only time that Macho captain is likely to let er-indoors have a go at the helm is when he in quiet panic has made a huge boob himself, and big danger is iminent like he's headed the boat straight at a weir by mistake,bellows for her to come and have a go at the tiller, when disaster strikes, grabs the tiller back from her and blames her for the terrible results, Hope you have a tremendous and great holiday.

I really appreciate the old world, DIY mentality. However, I’m not hand washing on holiday!🤣

[Ronaldo47]

This illustrates our traditional clothes drying method in 1977! 

 

The boat did also have gas-fired central heating and an airing cupboard to complete the drying.

Edited February 26 by Ronaldo47

[Frankgh]

Thank you all for the advice! We fly out of Pensacola today and start our cruise on Monday. Don't be shy if you see us about, give us a shout!

[MrsM]

36 minutes ago, Frankgh said:

Thank you all for the advice! We fly out of Pensacola today and start our cruise on Monday. Don't be shy if you see us about, give us a shout!

Hope you have a fantastic time. We had a magical 4 years on the cut and created some of the happiest memories of my life. Enjoy x