Maiden Voyage

[estima]

Hello one and all. This is my first post so just thought I'd ramble on a bit so if you get bored easily, stop reading now ! I've organised a stag week for my mate, and with us all being in our early thirties, fancied something a bit different to a night out at a club with music so loud that you can't hear one another speak, get overly drunk and forget what happened anyway. One thing I've always wanted to do is go on a canal holiday but my parents never took me and the wife is not at all interested in such a trip (if anyone could offer some advice on how to get her interested in a canal holiday, then please let me know). I thought that for the stag week, that I could fuel my ambition for a canal holiday, so seven of us are going to attempt the four counties ring, which people in work think is a great idea for a stag week. I live in South Wales, but grew up alongside the Caldon Canal and we would love to fit that in too, but as we are going anti-clockwise I think it would be virtually impossible. Luckily, we have two experienced boaters, so we should hopefully all pick up the basics quickly and help get some decent cruising hours in. Not only am I fitting in a weeks holiday, it has also given us the excuse for numerous logistical planning sessions, which is invaribly held in a pub. So, I'm on a two week countdown to departure and really looking forward to it. Just hope the week lives up to my expectations, though all I'm expecting is some good scenery and a few pints of some good real ale !

[John Orentas]

Hi Estima.

 

Welcome to the forum, you wouldn't have room for another little one I don't suppose, sounds like my kind of trip. If you want any tips on pubs and things along the way just ask.

Anyway don't forget to let us know how it went, spare us nothing.

Edited May 28, 2005 by John Orentas

[Sam]

Have a great time and welcome to the Canal World forums!

 

Sam

[estima]

Thanks for the welcome ! Unfortunately, we are fully staffed so I'm afraid you'd be sleeping on the roof ! I'm hoping it will be enjoyed by one and all so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of some annual canal trip action for the lads. Watch this space.

 

I'm fairly knowledgable on the pubs from Stone to Middlewich, especially Stoke on Trent (which I think is the best place on earth) and the Caldon area. Perhaps some advice on pubs on the stretch from Middlewich, down the Shropshire Union to Wolverhampton, if you could be so kind ?

 

I've never been one for taking photos, but I'm going to borrow the wifes camera for the trip, so we can capture all shenanigans on film, and I'm sure there is going to be one or two moments of comedy to report back.

[Sam]

Edited May 28, 2005 by Sam

[kawaton]

what week are you going

[gaggle]

tell the wife to pack for a canal trip or a trip to he mothers if she chooses the mothers you have cracked it

[Bernie]

Hi and welcome, since I'm not a drinker will have to wrack my brains for the names of pubs from Middlewich onwards although I'm sure one of the lads will be along with some advice and good ones. There's the Barbridge inn at Barbridge, the Shroppie fly and Bridge Inn at Audlem although for meals I think the Bridge is a better bet. Have a good trip anyway and do tell your wife canal holidays are great. I should know.

Edited May 28, 2005 by Bernie

[estima]

what week are you going

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June 11th to June 18th.

[John Orentas]

Hi Esti.

 

The hostelries in Middlewich are pretty ordinary but the town isn't too bad for a pub crawl, I have always found the best mooring to be on the T & M opposite the Kings Lock pub, a very good chip shop just across the road, check the opening time though.

 

The Bar bridge Inn is always worth a stop but it Gets busy at weekends and mooring can be a problem at very busy periods. Nice beer garden and good food.

 

There are a number of nice pubs in Nantwich, moor above the aqueduct.

Adler, 3 nice places Shoppe Fly and the less crowded Bridge Inn and the Lord something i have never been in.

 

Market Dray ton is an under-rated place lot of nice places to eat and drink.

 

There are lots of nice canalised (or near) villages all with their own pubs and restaurants all the way down the Shoppe. don't forget the Anchor Inn at High Foley, though I never found it to be as good as others have said.

 

Make sure you have a Nicholson's guide and perhaps one or two others.

[estima]

Marvellous .... all good advice and I've taken note. I forgot to say ... I went to Agricultural college in Nantwich, so am quite familiar with the pubs there aswell as knowing Stoke like the back of my hand. Our Captain has all the guides and has done the Shropshire Union before, so I feel confident we're going to get some quality cruising and ale swilling in. Having a read through the forum, I notice that, on the whole, Stoke doesn't seem widely popular ! I suppose it's the industrial sceneric value which lets it down slightly but it is an area with a rich and proud history. I imagine it is very much a personal thing if Stoke 'floats your boat' so to speak. The main reason we're going anti-clockwise is because if we hit Stoke early on, we'd never leave the place and have to turn round and head back. The Captain and I were discussing next years trip last night, and it would appear we're going to try and persuade my wife to go, and we were thinking of going from Middlewich and heading clock-wise in to Stoke and do the Caldon. Time will tell how good my persuasive powers are !

[John Orentas]

When I first took an interest the canals Stoke on Trent had the kind of reputation and publicity that certain parts of inner city Manchester and Birmingham have now, with all the dire warnings of anarchy and mayhem, no doubt with the same degree of exaggeration as they have now.

 

With time of course the novelty of boats passing through your district wears off.

Edited May 29, 2005 by John Orentas

[boatchad]

Estima you lucky sod. I did exactly what you are doing, but a different route, six years ago and we have been doing it every year since. Probably the best holidays we have ever had, good beer, good male company, good scenery, fantastic. So much so that we have bought a share in a canal boat, this years first trip on our own boat is in July, then again in august and again in november and again next march. Have a great time but tell the wife it was awfull or she might just want to join you.

 

Let us know how you get on, but remember to stress how cold, wet, smelly and generally awfull the boat was just in case her indoors reads this forum.

[kawaton]

Stoke isn't a bad place. It's quite good if your into history as i am.

Well worth going through!!

I just wouldn't want to stay there over night. I've found there are more attractive places to moor elsewhere, but that is down to personal preference and experience.

 

I guarentee by the end of your trip you'll be thinking, i'll have to do so and so next time, or i wouldnt stay at this or that place again. As you know stoke pretty well already, why not spend moor (scuse' the pun) time in other places!!

[estima]

As you know stoke pretty well already, why not spend moor (scuse' the pun) time in other places!!

21167[/snapback]

 

Yes ... I see what you are saying. This is the reason for our anti-clockwise route. We want to see the other areas first, and if needs be, we can go through Stoke without stopping. Having read numerous other posts in the forum, it seems that four-counties is achievable in a week, so long as we put some good hours in. The majority of the crew are early risers so I expect we'd be on the road by first light every morning. One question that does spring to mind though ..... having read other posts and logs, it would appear that the four-counties is more usually done in a clockwise direction. Would this cause us lengthy delays at locks ? Or is it usually just a case of swings and roundabouts ? My captain tells me that we have to adhere to canal etiquette at the locks, but also tells me it is something you get to learn very quickly.

[stuart]

If your going the opposite way to the other boats you may find that the locks are set in your favour as you will be going up and they will come down or vis-versa!

Edited May 31, 2005 by stuart

[bottle]

Hi

 

I think its the best way to do it, the opposite way to everyone else, then as Stuart said the locks will tend to be in your favour, you will not have to queue and you will meet more people/ boats.

[John Orentas]

Is there a usual direction of travel around the ring, I am not sure about that. If that is the case what is the reasoning behind it.

[estima]

Is there a usual direction of travel around the ring, I am not sure about that. If that is the case what is the reasoning behind it.

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Well I'm certainly not sure .... there will be others far more qualified than myself to answer that. I just got the impression that was the more common way, having found no logs at all for anti-clockwise, but several for clock-wise.

[kawaton]

We've done the ring in both directions more than once, and to be honest i havent noticed a difference in traffic, or locks being in our favour.

you go past that many junctions that people can be going all over the place.

We like to decide which way to go around a route based on when and where we want to stop.

I.e If you pick up your boat at 3pm on saturday, where would you end up the first night? Which way would be better. The same goes for the last night?

Take a look at your captains Nicholsons, you should be able to work it out from that.

 

As you are on a fixed sxhedule of one week, the last thing you want to is to get to Harecastle tunnel at 1700. You would then lose the rest of your cruising time that day, and wouldn't be able to start the next day until 0900 i think.

 

If it was me, i would go Clockwise, but thats just my prefernce.

The reason being you would get a lot of locks out of the way first, and then Stoke.

the rest of the trip would be rural with the majority of the locks out of the way.

I prefer it that way, but thats just me.

 

Whatever route you take i'm sure you'll have a good time

[bottle]

Hi

 

The 'normal' way is to follow the direction that the guides do it but me being awkward I always go opposite to these, especially in the high season when all us hirers are out there.

[nichimyo]

some advice on how to get her interested in a canal holiday, then please let me know...

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1) don't on any account let her see the pictures where you are all rat-ar**d.

2) try a day-trip somewhere incredibly scenic where there is only one lock (for a bit of excitement but not too much exertion), and where there is somewhere that does lovely food of her favourite type.

With a bit of luck she mi-g-h-t not notice she is being manipulated, but even if she realises she is, with a bit more luck she might actually enjoy the day out and decide to go along for a longer holiday next time.

[The Major]

Not the Leicester Ring as such but part of it! Thanks to the advice offered in these forums we completed the Four Counties anti-clockwise from Stoke in the week leading up to the Bank Holiday. Apart from the last day and a half the weather was pretty grim (two thunderstorms in the first two days!) but we did make it. Mind you we were busy and we did put in full days throughout. The first couple of days were tough going lockwise but we only had one queue for locks the whole week...I'd much rather do it that way round than have a lock-fest and potential hold-ups at the very end of the hols. I'm sure you'll easily outman us (me, the wife and our two kids) but as non-drinkers and non-smokers we didn't get distracted by pub stops and were horribly sober and bouncy at 7am! Thinking about it, the only inebriated crew we saw passed us when we were moored for the evening at Penkridge. I was sitting outside musing over the meaning of life when the silence was shattered by a narrowboat steaming past us, it's floodlight beaming into the darkness ahead, illuminating the entire canal. The Americans manning the boat certainly sounded the worse for wear...and believe me, they were't exactly whispering! The time? 10.30pm! They must have completed some locks in the pitch dark and were heading for another! Has anyone seen canalboats travelling later than that? Oh, and we did moor in Stoke overnight on the Friday - adjacent to the Festival Park Marina and next to a flyover. It's enough to drive you to drink...almost!

Edited June 8, 2005 by The Major

[estima]

I'm sure you'll easily outman us (me, the wife and our two kids) but as non-drinkers and non-smokers we didn't get distracted by pub stops and were horribly sober and bouncy at 7am! Thinking about it, the only inebriated crew we saw passed us when we were moored for the evening at Penkridge. I was sitting outside musing over the meaning of life when the silence was shattered by a narrowboat steaming past us, it's floodlight beaming into the darkness ahead, illuminating the entire canal. The Americans manning the boat certainly sounded the worse for wear...and believe me, they were't exactly whispering! The time? 10.30pm! They must have completed some locks in the pitch dark and were heading for another! Has anyone seen canalboats travelling later than that?

22410[/snapback]

 

Well even though I'm quite a moderate drinker (12 pints minimum per session), I have an uncanny ability to be 'horribly bouncy' myself early mornings. Because I take full advantage of working flexi time (all next weeks holiday is on flexi!) I ensure I'm up and about by around 5am each morning, so whatever state I've got myself in, I always manage to wake up early. To be fair though, I did stop in bed till around 7am the other week, largely due to not getting in till around 4.45 am My captain has informed me that we shall be up and running at the break of daylight each morning, and told us we shall, under no circumstances, be travelling after sunset. We're all keen to respect people and observe any laws, so hopefully, we'll manage to get past the week without offending anyone or being a nuisance. Not sure if the American crew you saw were oblivious to the fact that they shouldn't have been travlling this time of night, but lets just hope they made it back in one piece and remained dry !

[John Orentas]

There is nothing wrong with travelling late at night, I used to do it quite often, it is very pleasant on a warm summer night after you have left the pub to put another couple of hours in, as long as you have a good light and you creep past moored boats.

I have never fancied going through locks though there is no reason that you can't if you are careful and you know what you are doing. The working boatmen would often travel through the night when it was required and in fact there were scheduled packet boat services in some parts of the country. That is why many bridges are painted white.

Edited June 9, 2005 by John Orentas