Midlands route choice for complete novices!

[Blackdogsdad]

Hello!

 

We’re four reasonably fit adults + one 11-yr-old all

very much looking forward to our first ever narrow-boating holiday.

We booked via Hoseasons and have been looking at the suggested routes on their website.

 

There are only two “1 week” routes these being:

“Droitwich / Birmingham / Droitwich” ("There and Back Again") which takes in the Tardebigge lock flight twice, and

“Droitwich / Dudley / Birmingham / Droitwich” (Stourport Ring) which includes travelling along the River Severn and (according to Wikipedia) negotiating around 105 locks in total.

 

We’re tempted by the ring route but do people think that travelling along the river (against the current) as well as negotiating all those locks might be too ambitious for complete novices?

Our week is the first week of the school summer holidays which I’m guessing will be busy and could potentially entail a lot of queueing at locks

 

Another website I saw suggested that in order to better appreciate the sights along the way, 10 days is a better length of time to allow for the Stourport Ring, although that was including the longer route that takes in the loop north to Wolverhampton.

Obviously we are limited to a 7-day trip.

 

So: should we go there and back again, almost there and back again provided there's somewhere to turn around (?!?) or just get on with it and go around the ring?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[matty40s]

ring.......

....unless we have deluges from the skies which make the Severn unnavigable.(see last year)

Tardebigge is easier in the summer hols as there tends to be a lock open waiting for you on a good day. (some if not all)

Get your crew well trained (one on tea)..

[nicknorman]

The Worcs and Birmingham into central Birmingham is very heavily locked for not much cruising and it might be slightly depressing to go there and back by the same route. If it were me I would do the ring (via Netherton Tunnel / Stourbridge canal since Wolverhampton flight is currently closed) but if you are novices and have yet to develop a slick system through locks, it might take a while. But you can just do longer days - there is plenty of daylight. Its a much more varied and hence interesting route than going out and back. In terms of lock queues, the Dudley / Stourbridge canal and Severn are not issues, and in long flights of locks such as on the W&B once you get into the flight you rarely hit a queue, though a slow boat ahead can be frustrating. The Staffs and Worc with its spread out locks might be the worst bit for queues. There is normally not much current on the Severn, but why not do the ring anticlockwise and then you will be going down stream?

 

If you haven't already found it, there is a really useful trip planning website here

[Keeping Up]

Definitely the ring. You'll have fairly long days cruising (about 8 hours a day) but that's ideal for using up all the excess energy that 11 year olds tend to have. The river will probably have virtually no current, and you have the advantage that lock-keepers will do all the work for you.

[john6767]

You say Hoseasons, is that actually Black Prince from Stoke Prior? This weekend we have just come from the centre of Birmingham to Droitwich Spa Marina, ie past Stoke Prior. Personally I don't think that up Tardebigge to Birmjngham and back is really the best introduction and the best use of a week. You have picked a heavily locked area, so I don't think you can avoid doing locks. Doing the Stourport ring using the Droitwich canal should be possible I think in a hire week, which is really only 6 1/2 days.

Edited June 23, 2013 by john6767

[eightacre]

Go with the ring - anticlockwise.

[nigely]

Your 1st trip is all about learning the ring gives you all the options have fun

[Blackdogsdad]

Thanks for all that everybody!

Ring anticlockwise it is then: the reason I thought we'd be going clockwise is just because that's the way

Hoseasons describe that route so I thought maybe there's an unwritten rule you have to go that way!

(That's how much I know!!!)

Also that'll get us through the long flight of locks at the start rather than the end of the week so we won't

get too stressed about not getting through them in time to get the boat back AND we'll have had plenty of

boat-handling practice before we reach the river.

Thanks again.

Can't wait!!!

Actually, one of the above replies worries me a bit though: if the river has become un-navigable by the time we reach it,

what do we do then as that's the only way back to Dunhampstead without borrowing the boat for another few days to

go back around the ring!?!

[nicknorman]

Actually, one of the above replies worries me a bit though: if the river has become un-navigable by the time we reach it,

what do we do then as that's the only way back to Dunhampstead without borrowing the boat for another few days to

go back around the ring!?!

Last year was particularly bad for the Severn flooding, some years it never does flood in summer. All you can do is keep an eye on the forecast once you reach Birmingham and if there is going to be persistent heavy rain in the next couple of days, think about returning the way you came. It might be worth discussing the possibility with the hire company - I suppose in extremis they could use a minibus to pick you up and deliver the next holidaymakers to wherever you are, though I doubt they would be too pleased.

 

But most years, the river is open most of the time over the summer. I stand to be corrected but I think flooding and closures are usually more prevalent from Worcester downstream.

[eightacre]

We were out on the river last week and it was as low as I have seen it. You can keep an eye on river levels here: http://www.cruisingschool.co.uk/location/river%20severn%20levels.htm

[trackman]

Hire companies have had to develop contingencies for summer floods lately if they are placed near or on rivers. Round here, the Trent and Soar have flooded at some time in most summers since we bought our own boat 7 years ago.

The Severn probably won't flood when you are out, but you should keep a close ear to the forecasts before committing to the river part of the ring.

As long as you don't recklessly get the boat stranded, the hire company should deal with matters in the unlikely event that a sudden deluge leaves you unable to get the boat back.

If your trip is in the next few weeks, given the current low river levels it would take an almighty torrent of rain for this anyway!

[T.A]

It sounds as though you have booked a boat from Brookline it would probably be better to do the ring clockwise this gets the river section over early and then no problems with river conditions later in the trip. The river section won't be as bad as you think and going against the current is not usually a problem. Going this way down to Worcester you will do 16 locks and not go through Droitwich however if the weather forecast is good then you could stick with your original plan.