Stourport ring findings

[MikeT]

Hello and once again thanks for the comments to our earlier post requesting Birmingham mooring advice – we've now been there, seen that but didn't get the T shirt and for the record-

 

1st day (Sat 3rd) left Stoke Prior abt 12.00 and reached Alvechurch abt 1800 incl lunch break at Stoke Pound and all in dry weather. Meal in the Crown which is a nice friendly pub and served a good reasonably priced meal.

 

2nd day pootled to Brom and eventually moored in Oozels loop but there was plenty of space elsewhere. Agree with other comments about the Gulls keeping you awake at night! As the heavens opened when we were looking for somewhere to eat we dived in to the nearest eatery which happened to be a Pizza Express and identical to every other one in the land!

 

3rd day a bit wet and windy at times and went thru' the Netherton Tunnel and stopped at Merry Hill where the alongside moorings by the Waterfront hotels were fully occupied, not by the overall number of boats but mainly due to the siting of the very large bollards and curvy canal sides preventing boats being moored close to each other, still expect it all looked very good on the architect's original drawings!. However the moorings further on by Sainsburys etc., were empty, plenty of CC and not sure if that good or bad! but we had no problems apart from it being very exposed plus very strong winds and rain all night. Again due to the rain we went to the nearest pub, The Brewers Wharf, which is a Marstons chain but they were doing 2 for 1 meals and it wasn't that bad to be honest.

 

4th day descended the Delph and Stourbridge flights which uneventful apart from the strong wind causing the lower gates to keep blowing open until someone following us asked why we were leaving the lower gates open. When we explained they advised us to leave a top paddle cracked open which seemed to do the trick but presumably if no one is following then you can't really leave a paddle open so the gates will have to take their own chances with the wind?. The double lock halfway down the Stourbridge flight was a bit of a surprise! Once we we reached Stourton Jnctn we read a note nailed to the beam of the bottom lock that the lock at Wolverley was damaged and closed but luckily on enquiry at the waterpoint at Stewponey we were told it had just reopened. (We found out later that another party in two boats who left Stoke Prior at the same time as us but going via Worcester had to turn round in Stourport and ended up doing the Severn and Tardebigge in both directions!), We stayed in Kinver, plenty of space, and found another Marstons pub, White Hart, also doing 2 for 1 and better than the previous one. On walking back in the dark the pub up Church Hill, The Cross Inn?, looked very inviting so that's one to try another time.

 

5th day reached Stourport but not really a great deal of space before the basin, luckily just after parking ourselves not too comfortably on the end of the moorings somebody unmoored further back. With a nifty bit of quick reversing we re-moored a few boat lengths back near near the Black Star pub. After a wander around Stourport in light rain , which doesn't show anywhere at it's best, we decided to try the Black Star however the kitchen was being refurbished and they re-directed us to the Hollybush further along Mitton St. which is a small, friendly pub and apart from basket meals, long time since we've heard them called that, they offered a choice of only two 'home cooked' hot dishes, Steak & Ale pie or Chile con carne at £4.00 each and they were both brilliant!

 

6th day entered the Severn and a swift, well relatively, passage reached Worcester early afternoon with plenty of time for a good look around. We were bounced once for a lock by a large cruiser which had quickly caught us up, followed us for a mile or so, then just before the Holt lock overtook us in cloud of diesel smoke with Mr & Mrs silver surfers perched up on a flying bridge giving us the thumbs up sign. Their cruiser with its array of fenders was too wide to allow us in the lock as well but it gave us some practice in holding station waiting for the lock to empty and refill. This was our first time with the Severn locks and after the first one found them to be very uneventful and the lockies we all very patient & pleasant. Once we got through the double locks, in company with another narrowboat, we should have moored just past Diglis basin where there was plenty of space as after that there were no spaces until after lock 4. This actually was fine except we found out later it was next to a hidden warehouse operation with beeping stacker trucks all night long! and in fact it was quite a short walk down to Silbury lock and the town centre. We ate in the Kings Head, near Silbury lock, which slightly more upmarket but had very amiable staff and the meal was good value.

 

7th day reached the Boat & Railway by Br. 42 where we learnt that the pub that had unfortunately just closed a couple of days before apparently for a change of ownership and refurbishment. So we carried on to Stoke Prior base where we quadruple banked and went to the Navigation which had literally just been taken over by the people who were running the Boat & Railway. So what with some furniture being poked through an upstairs window by a large forklift truck outside the front door it was all a bit chaotic but eventually they fed us not too badly and pretty cheaply.

 

8th day paid our diesel bill for the week £82.03 and went home back to Kent.

 

We found the Stourport ring one of the better ones as has long and short lock flights, plenty of tunnels, some wonderful countryside, a large city , a cathedral town and a river section. On reflection maybe we should have gone the 'official' route via Wolverhampton and also used the Droitwich canals but hey that's for another time!

 

Hope we haven't bored anyone!

 

Mike

[magpie patrick]

Sounds like you had a good trip

 

Must have been an effin big cruiser for you not to be able to fit in a Severn Lock with it!

 

One note, in my view (and it is only my view) the advice to keep gates closed by cracking a paddle is bad advice. The ostensible reason for gates being closed is to save water, to open a paddle to keep them closed defeats the object. If you need them closed (to empty or fill the lock) then yes, crack a paddle then close them, but not otherwise

[muddywaters]

Sounds like you had as good a rip as we did when we did the StourPort Ring and we would highly recommend it to anyone

[Laurie Booth]

Sounds like you had a good trip

 

Must have been an effin big cruiser for you not to be able to fit in a Severn Lock with it!

 

One note, in my view (and it is only my view) the advice to keep gates closed by cracking a paddle is bad advice. The ostensible reason for gates being closed is to save water, to open a paddle to keep them closed defeats the object. If you need them closed (to empty or fill the lock) then yes, crack a paddle then close them, but not otherwise

I think the boater behind Mike wanted Mike to fill the lock for him.

[Spesh]

1st day (Sat 3rd) left Stoke Prior abt 12.00 and reached Alvechurch abt 1800 incl lunch break at Stoke Pound and all in dry weather. Meal in the Crown which is a nice friendly pub and served a good reasonably priced meal.

 

6th day entered the Severn and a swift, well relatively, passage reached Worcester early afternoon with plenty of time for a good look around. Once we got through the double locks, in company with another narrowboat, we should have moored just past Diglis basin where there was plenty of space as after that there were no spaces until after lock 4. Mike

Hi Mike, think we must have crossed paths twice. We stopped at the visitors moorings by the Crown on that Saturday (we were in the Brookline boat, two bikes on the roof, at the very far end of the moorings by the railway bridge, arrived around 7ish), and then also arrived at Worcester early afternoon on the Thursday (moored on the right just before the first bridge after Diglis basin). Must have cycled past you on the tow path when I was working out how far it was to walk to pizza hut! We did the Avon Ring, must try and get round to doing a trip report.

[The Pipe]

Sounds like you had a good trip

 

Must have been an effin big cruiser for you not to be able to fit in a Severn Lock with it!

 

One note, in my view (and it is only my view) the advice to keep gates closed by cracking a paddle is bad advice. The ostensible reason for gates being closed is to save water, to open a paddle to keep them closed defeats the object. If you need them closed (to empty or fill the lock) then yes, crack a paddle then close them, but not otherwise

One on that flight you need more than 1/2 a paddle to get the gates to stay shut!

[MikeT]

I think the boater behind Mike wanted Mike to fill the lock for him.

 

Yes thats what we thought as well! The boat behind was a old working boat in British Waterways blue & yellow colours and was with us on & off for about 3 days, last seen at Stourport, but seemed to have a different crew every day - maybe there's a club or trust in which you take turns moving it around?

 

 

Hi Mike, think we must have crossed paths twice. We stopped at the visitors moorings by the Crown on that Saturday (we were in the Brookline boat, two bikes on the roof, at the very far end of the moorings by the railway bridge, arrived around 7ish), and then also arrived at Worcester early afternoon on the Thursday (moored on the right just before the first bridge after Diglis basin). Must have cycled past you on the tow path when I was working out how far it was to walk to pizza hut! We did the Avon Ring, must try and get round to doing a trip report.

 

Hi,

 

Yes remember a Brookline at Alvechurch but we would have been a further up than you at Worcester.. Hope you enjoyed the Avon Ring which we still have to do sometime. How long did it take you? - a couple of friends of ours managed it in a week from Stoke Prior but that was with 12 hr days which not really for us anymore!

[Spesh]

Hi,

 

Yes remember a Brookline at Alvechurch but we would have been a further up than you at Worcester.. Hope you enjoyed the Avon Ring which we still have to do sometime. How long did it take you? - a couple of friends of ours managed it in a week from Stoke Prior but that was with 12 hr days which not really for us anymore!

We did it in a week (and went via Droitwich, as well as coming up off at the Severn at Worcester which added time), but certainly didn't need 12 hour days! Rough days/timings were (cruising time, so lunch stops excluded):

 

Dunhampstead to Alvechurch - 6h30

Alvechurch to Kingswood junction - 8h

Kingswood to Stratford - 9h (should have been less but lots of hold ups!)

Stratford to Evesham - 5h30

Evesham to Tewkesbury - 7h

Tewkesbury to Worcester - 4h

Worcester to Dunhampstead (via Droitwich) - 7h

 

That was four of us, but one was pregnant so only three doing the work. Hopefully I should get round to posting a trip report soon.

[MikeT]

Tks Spesh, that doesn't sound too bad even for oldies like me!

 

Cheers

 

We did it in a week (and went via Droitwich, as well as coming up off at the Severn at Worcester which added time), but certainly didn't need 12 hour days! Rough days/timings were (cruising time, so lunch stops excluded):

 

Dunhampstead to Alvechurch - 6h30

Alvechurch to Kingswood junction - 8h

Kingswood to Stratford - 9h (should have been less but lots of hold ups!)

Stratford to Evesham - 5h30

Evesham to Tewkesbury - 7h

Tewkesbury to Worcester - 4h

Worcester to Dunhampstead (via Droitwich) - 7h

 

That was four of us, but one was pregnant so only three doing the work. Hopefully I should get round to posting a trip report soon.