From Napton

[Katebear]

HI. We are a family of 6 (4 adults, a teenager and a 9 year old). Have done canal holidays before . We have a week and wondering if warwickshire ring would be comfortably 'do-able' in a week without having to do very long days. Also is it a pleasant route?! Places to avoid mooring would be good to know. Any suggestions or advice welcome... including ideas about other routes as well. We are all happy with locks (9 year old says he's an expert?) . Thank you..

We go at end of august!

We go at end of august!

[Laurie Booth]

When are you going

[bottle]

Using canalplanac: plan a journey, left hand column selection.

 

Using default settings.

 

This is a trip of 105 miles, ¼ furlongs and 121 locks from Napton Junction to Napton Junction.

This will take 60 hours and 21 minutes which is 8 days, 4 hours and 21 minutes at 7 hours per day.

 

It is 7 hours a day for eight and a half days.

 

A weeks hire, you would be working hard and have to keep going virtually non-stop.

 

In theory it could be done but probably travelling for at least ten hours per day, with no hold ups, delays, breakdowns etc.

 

(all settings travelling times first day, last day etc. can be 'tuned' in canaplan) have a look.

 

Your holiday/workout.

[Katebear]

Thank you 'bottle!' ?

Thank you 'bottle!' ?

[David Mack]

An alternative would be to head for Stratford on Avon. 70 miles and 160 locks, taking 52 hours if you go all the way, but you can wind at the top of the Wilmcote flight to reduce that. You can get a train into Stratford too if you want to spend a day in the town.

 

Or head down towards Oxford - altogether more leisurely.

[Katebear]

Thank you David ?

[john6767]

The Warwickshire ring is a common weeks hire boat trip, there will have been plenty who set of this last weekend from Napton doing exactly that. You need to put in good hours each day, say 8 and perhaps 9 some days, and you can't take a day off but if you want to use the hire boat well there is nothing wrong with that.

 

I think the previous quote from canalplan was actually going via the centre of Birmingham, which is not strictly the Warwickshire ring, and whilst a good diversion it does add time and locks. If you stick just to the Warwickshire ring, ie you go all the way up the GU the plan looks like this

 

 

This is a trip of 99.22 miles and 94 locks from Napton Junction to Napton Junction.

 

This will take 55 hours and 17 minutes which is 6 days, 7 hours and 17 minutes at 8 hours per day.

 

Personally I don't think Stratford and back from Napton in a week is a good choice, you do the heavily locked part of the Warwickshire ring twice, which is 46 locks each way so that part alone is almost the total lock count of the Warwickshire ring.

[Alan de Enfield]

HI. We are a family of 6 (4 adults, a teenager and a 9 year old). Have done canal holidays before . We have a week and wondering if warwickshire ring would be comfortably 'do-able' in a week without having to do very long days. Also is it a pleasant route?! Places to avoid mooring would be good to know. Any suggestions or advice welcome... including ideas about other routes as well. We are all happy with locks (9 year old says he's an expert) . Thank you..

We go at end of august!

We go at end of august!

 

As seasoned hirers you will of course remember that a week is not 7 days.

 

On the 1st day of your hire you will normally pick up the boat mid-afternoon.

On the last day you will probably need to be back at the 'yard' by 9:00am (effectively arriving somewhere within a mile or two of the yard on the previous evening).

 

Work on 5 days travelling and it will be a little less hurried, and, if you get into a lock queue on the bank holiday weekend then you won't be in a panic to make up time.

[IanD]

HI. We are a family of 6 (4 adults, a teenager and a 9 year old). Have done canal holidays before . We have a week and wondering if warwickshire ring would be comfortably 'do-able' in a week without having to do very long days. Also is it a pleasant route?! Places to avoid mooring would be good to know. Any suggestions or advice welcome... including ideas about other routes as well. We are all happy with locks (9 year old says he's an expert) . Thank you..

We go at end of august!

We go at end of august!

We're doing exactly the same, here's our plan with stops and timings...

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=85869&p=1850480

[Captain Pegg]

I will second everything John6767 says.

 

If it is what you would really like to do there is no reason you shouldn't do so as it will be a full weeks boating but it is literally achievable comfortably within a week without very long days. I recall the only time I did it as a single entity on a week's hire we were able to stop for a couple of hours on some days and didn't boat very late in to the evening. It was Easter so we didn't have lots of daylight.

 

The route direct from Kingswood to Bordesley and Salford Junction comes out at 53 hours on CanalPlan and it is 60 hours via Birmingham. With your past experience and crew numbers you will better that easily ignoring external influences such as delays at locks. I believe the recommended route is generally via Birmingham city centre and although there are more locks that way the Lapworth, Farmers Bridge and Aston flights are quick and easy. Knowle, Camp Hill and Garrison less so. CanalPlan doesn't take that into account. The route via Birmingham is also far more interesting.

 

If you go clockwise the last two days will have very few locks which means that if you do experience any delays on the heavily locked sections you should be able to recover time.

 

Jon

[IanD]

I will second everything John6767 says.

 

If it is what you would really like to do there is no reason you shouldn't do so as it will be a full weeks boating but it is literally achievable comfortably within a week without very long days. I recall the only time I did it as a single entity on a week's hire we were able to stop for a couple of hours on some days and didn't boat very late in to the evening. It was Easter so we didn't have lots of daylight.

 

The route direct from Kingswood to Bordesley and Salford Junction comes out at 53 hours on CanalPlan and it is 60 hours via Birmingham. With your past experience and crew numbers you will better that easily ignoring external influences such as delays at locks. I believe the recommended route is generally via Birmingham city centre and although there are more locks that way the Lapworth, Farmers Bridge and Aston flights are quick and easy. Knowle, Camp Hill and Garrison less so. CanalPlan doesn't take that into account. The route via Birmingham is also far more interesting.

 

If you go clockwise the last two days will have very few locks which means that if you do experience any delays on the heavily locked sections you should be able to recover time.

 

Jon

I spent a lot of time looking at the clockwise route (and going via Birmingham) and the problem is that to do it in 6.5 days (which is what you get with a week's hire) starting from Napton with the constraints of Hatton and Birmingham, the timings and stopping places (especially if you want decent pubs in the evening) just don't work so well, hence choosing anticlockwise via Catherine de Barnes.

 

Not saying it can't be done the other way (obviously it can, especially a month earlier when days are longer) but you need to plan carefully if you care where you stop.

[Captain Pegg]

I spent a lot of time looking at the clockwise route (and going via Birmingham) and the problem is that to do it in 6.5 days (which is what you get with a week's hire) starting from Napton with the constraints of Hatton and Birmingham, the timings and stopping places (especially if you want decent pubs in the evening) just don't work so well, hence choosing anticlockwise via Catherine de Barnes.

 

Not saying it can't be done the other way (obviously it can, especially a month earlier when days are longer) but you need to plan carefully if you care where you stop.

I think that probably has a lot to do with the standard planning approach to locks that you will get from using any planning aid. The reality is that with experience you can confidently use some very different figures. On standard settings CanalPlan gives the following;-

 

Hatton flight - 4 hrs 15 mins

Lapworth flight - 3 hr 30 mins

Farmers Bridge flight - 2 hrs

 

In reality but not accounting for undue delays due to traffic a hire crew of six people will probably achieve something like 2.5 hrs, 2 hrs and maybe as little as 1 hour respectively. That's half a day of time less than the standard timings and there is another half a day to be gained on other locks. There is far less variability in the cruising times in CanalPlan. In the West Midlands I routinely plan heavily locked days of 11 to 12 hours according to CanalPlan in the genuine expectation they will be 8 to 9 hours of cruising time providing I have sufficient crew to prepare one lock ahead. The risk is in getting delayed either waiting for locks or behind someone slow in the flight hence my conclusion that clockwise gives you a bit more opportunity for catching up. Progress comes from being able and willing to keep going rather than by rushing.

 

It's difficult to plan in that way without some knowledge of the locks concerned hence you have concluded that it's better to go the other way round. The advantage of the via Birmingham route is that you plan to be there overnight and not being concerned about getting through the city. In truth there are sensible mooring options outside the city centre but within the urban area on both routes.

 

You will both make it and I will be very surprised if you aren't both glad of having decided to do the ring afterwards.

 

JP

Edited August 15, 2016 by Captain Pegg

[Athy]

Napton hire boats on a "week"'s hire are a familiar sight on the South Oxford Canal as they make their way towards Oxford.

I wonder why that is.

[IanD]

JP, I agree completely that Canalplan timings are *usually* pessimistic for locks in flights, in the past we've very often been much quicker than the estimates by going ahead to set the next lock(s), not waiting to pick people up and so on. We've also sometimes got stuck behind boats who don't know what they're doing, take double the time we would and don't see why they should let us pass them and go ahead.

 

On a ring where you have to get round I'd rather not assume that everything will go well and push the hours, even if this will very often be the case -- if we have some time to spare we can always start a bit later in the morning (good after a late night), or stop for lunch, or stop a bit early, and aiming for around 8 "Canalplan" hours a day at this time of year (end of September) seems to work.

 

Athy, the Southern Oxford appears very attractive to many people being lovely and rural with no big towns, and from Napton you can just go out-and-back as far as you want. Personally I find too many fields and hedges and too few locks a bit boring (e.g. Llangollen canal except for the top end), and being mainly in the middle of nowhere good stopping places and pubs (as opposed to places that claim to be pubs but are really restaurants) in the right place at the right time are not that common.

Edited August 15, 2016 by IanD

[Athy]

 

 

Athy, the Southern Oxford appears very attractive to many people being lovely and rural with no big towns, and from Napton you can just go out-and-back as far as you want. Personally I find too many fields and hedges and too few locks a bit boring (e.g. Llangollen canal except for the top end), and being mainly in the middle of nowhere good stopping places and pubs (as opposed to places that claim to be pubs but are really restaurants) in the right place at the right time are not that common.

Yes, my question was rhetorical because I do find (most of) the Southern Oxford lovely. As for locks, well you'll go through about 20 between Napton and Banbury for example. Pubs are spaced out, yes, but can be found at Napton Bottom Lock, Fenny Compton, Cropredy (2 of) and (in proliferation) Banbury, and points beyond.

[cuthound]

JP, I agree completely that Canalplan timings are *usually* pessimistic for locks in flights, in the past we've very often been much quicker than the estimates by going ahead to set the next lock(s), not waiting to pick people up and so on. We've also sometimes got stuck behind boats who don't know what they're doing, take double the time we would and don't see why they should let us pass them and go ahead.

 

On a ring where you have to get round I'd rather not assume that everything will go well and push the hours, even if this will very often be the case -- if we have some time to spare we can always start a bit later in the morning (good after a late night), or stop for lunch, or stop a bit early, and aiming for around 8 "Canalplan" hours a day at this time of year (end of September) seems to work.

 

Athy, the Southern Oxford appears very attractive to many people being lovely and rural with no big towns, and from Napton you can just go out-and-back as far as you want. Personally I find too many fields and hedges and too few locks a bit boring (e.g. Llangollen canal except for the top end), and being mainly in the middle of nowhere good stopping places and pubs (as opposed to places that claim to be pubs but are really restaurants) in the right place at the right time are not that common.

Completely agree about rings, you need to keep at least half a day in hand in case of unforseen problems. Trouble is once you are more than half way round you cannot really turn back, so any delays result in pressure to speed and longer days to catch up the lost time.

[IanD]

Yes, my question was rhetorical because I do find (most of) the Southern Oxford lovely. As for locks, well you'll go through about 20 between Napton and Banbury for example. Pubs are spaced out, yes, but can be found at Napton Bottom Lock, Fenny Compton, Cropredy (2 of) and (in proliferation) Banbury, and points beyond.

Agree that there are some good pubs and they're spaced out -- which is exactly what I meant, they're very often half a day apart...

[Katebear]

Thankyou ?