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Canal trip choice


Mariahutchings

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Hello

Never had a boating holiday before. My husband and I would like to book a week canal holiday for sept or Oct.  we would like to be on a canal with not too many locks ideally, but essentially good scenery and lots of lovely pubs, ideally selling real ale Along the way.   I am a passionate walker, he is recovering from knee surgery so limited in walking distance so we thought canal boating would be ideal.  We both enjoy the countryside, wildlife but also historical sites.  We are based in the south of England but would consider travelling Further north but not Scotland.  So want to ask advice on suitable canal routes for a week with pubs and few locks.  Thanking you on advance , maria 

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Welcome to CWDF, Maria.

Time's getting short for a September trip! October is perhaps a more realistic goal. May I suggest the Ashby Canal which is delightfully pastoral, has some pubs but NO locks! The well-regarded Ashby Boat Co. have a hire base at Stoke Golding, part way along it. It's 22 miles long, but you can venture out of it on to the big grown-up canals and still meet no locks for several miles each way.

 

There is a web site which shows last-minute availability of hire boats. I don't know what it's called, but someone on here will.

 

Oh, forgot to mention, it's in Leicestershire, or at least most of it is.

Edited by Athy
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4 minutes ago, Athy said:

Welcome to CWDF, Maria.

Time's getting short for a September trip! October is perhaps a more realistic goal. May I suggest the Ashby Canal which is delightfully pastoral, has some pubs but NO locks! The well-regarded Ashby Boat Co. have a hire base at Stoke Golding, part way along it. It's 22 miles long, but you can venture out of it on to the big grown-up canals and still meet no locks for several miles each way.

 

There is a web site which shows last-minute availability of hire boats. I don't know what it's called, but someone on here will.

 

Oh, forgot to mention, it's in Leicestershire, or at least most of it is.

I think it is near Bosworth Field as well?

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I was thinking of the Llangollen, but last time I was there the lift bridges were not that easy to lift, If 'hubby' is not very ambulatory he may struggle with them, if Maria is of the 'petite' stature she may struggle with them.

 

(Unless the bridges have had a makeover in the last three years)

 

For me the Llangollen is the best canal on the system.

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

Welcome to CWDF, Maria.

Time's getting short for a September trip! October is perhaps a more realistic goal. May I suggest the Ashby Canal which is delightfully pastoral, has some pubs but NO locks! The well-regarded Ashby Boat Co. have a hire base at Stoke Golding, part way along it. It's 22 miles long, but you can venture out of it on to the big grown-up canals and still meet no locks for several miles each way.

 

There is a web site which shows last-minute availability of hire boats. I don't know what it's called, but someone on here will.

 

Oh, forgot to mention, it's in Leicestershire, or at least most of it is.

 

https://www.latelink.com

 

Oh, and another vote for the Ashby and surrounding canals if you don't want to do too many locks. 

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2 hours ago, Athy said:

forgot to mention, it's in Leicestershire, or at least most of it is.

Is it? I’d have thought (but haven’t checked) that most of it was in Warwickshire. Maybe you’re right though, coz Hinckley is in Leicestershire. 

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4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Is it? I’d have thought (but haven’t checked) that most of it was in Warwickshire. Maybe you’re right though, coz Hinckley is in Leicestershire. 

I did ponder that before posting, but did not consult a map. Its starting point at Marston Junction is in Warks and, as you say, Hinckley is in Leics. Whether it meanders over the border again on its way to Snarestone (Leics!) I don't know.

EDIT: both Market Bosworth and Shackerstone are in Leics, so I suspect that the majority of the canal is in that county. Whichever one it's in, it's very pretty apart from Hinckley and the A5!

Edited by Athy
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2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I was thinking of the Llangollen, but last time I was there the lift bridges were not that easy to lift, If 'hubby' is not very ambulatory he may struggle with them, if Maria is of the 'petite' stature she may struggle with them.

 

(Unless the bridges have had a makeover in the last three years)

 

For me the Llangollen is the best canal on the system.

It's a strange world innit. For me the Llangollen is bloomin boring apart from a couple of big bridge jobbies it's no match to the  L and L round gargrave or even some of the Oxford ?

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1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

It's a strange world innit. For me the Llangollen is bloomin boring apart from a couple of big bridge jobbies it's no match to the  L and L round gargrave or even some of the Oxford ?

The Oxford is, of course, a favourite waterway of mine, but it does have quite a few locks which wouldn't suit the O.P. couple, hence I did not (for once!) recommend it.

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Just now, Athy said:

The Oxford is, of course, a favourite waterway of mine, but it does have quite a few locks which wouldn't suit the O.P. couple, hence I did not (for once!) recommend it.

Yeah I was just giving my twopenneth on personal choice. Major trouble also with the O xford are long stretches without pubs ?

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1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah I was just giving my twopenneth on personal choice. Major trouble also with the Oxford are long stretches without pubs ?

Well, one pub per day's cruise is enough! Its main lack is sanny stations: there isn't one between Banbury and Thrupp, which means having to pay to use the boatyard's one at Heyford*. This of course won't affect hirers because their boats will have capacious pump-out tanks.

 

*But, through stopping at Heyford, we discovered the Bell Inn, just off the canal, which is a nice pub in a delightful village setting.

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5 minutes ago, Athy said:

Well, one pub per day's cruise is enough! Its main lack is sanny stations: there isn't one between Banbury and Thrupp, which means having to pay to use the boatyard's one at Heyford*. This of course won't affect hirers because their boats will have capacious pump-out tanks.

 

*But, through stopping at Heyford, we discovered the Bell Inn, just off the canal, which is a nice pub in a delightful village setting.

The Bell has been run the past fifteen years by my good friend Lyn and has been a local of mine on and off for many years. Funnily enough she is leaving this week and we are having a Megga party there this Saturday night ?

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Just now, mrsmelly said:

The Bell has been run the past fifteen years by my good friend Lyn and has been a local of mine on and off for many years. Funnily enough she is leaving this week and we are having a Megga party there this Saturday night ?

I heard, when we had a meal there a couple of weeks ago, that it was changing hands. I think that it was in a transitional phase then, the new landlord had arrived but the current landlady hadn't yet gone. Good tasty unpretentious nosh, by the way.

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4 minutes ago, Athy said:

I heard, when we had a meal there a couple of weeks ago, that it was changing hands. I think that it was in a transitional phase then, the new landlord had arrived but the current landlady hadn't yet gone. Good tasty unpretentious nosh, by the way.

Yes it's a great pub. You can tell it's good because it gets some bad tripadvisor reports which invariably means it's a good pub. It's a pub first with a good local regular trade and very much secondary does food which is as you say good enough for the job. We looked after each other when we had the caff down the road and bounced trade off each other rather than the usual scenario of trying to take each other's trade.

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The basic problem for the OP is that the canals with the best scenery and pubs -- and often, the most interesting places to visit -- tend to be those in hillier areas with plenty of locks. Like mrsmelly we also found the Llangollen pretty boring (except for the obvious couple of brilliant bits) and it certainly doesn't have a very high good pub score, and as noted the southern Oxford also has a pub problem (some nice pubs but very long stretches without one).

 

The other problem for a booking in Sept/Oct is that a lot of the routes that might suit them are out of action due to water shortages or other closure reasons...

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Thank you all for the comments so far.   I will research Ashby a bit further, though I am thinking 22 miles might be a bit short for us for a week. ??  Looking at the comments I am thinking that plenty of pubs and scenery may be more important than the number of locks, although I know we don't want to be stopping continuously to open or close.  We are both fit (except the knee !) so can cope with a few.  MAybe Oxford would be okay, we don't mind walking into a village for a pub or two. :) 

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7 hours ago, Mariahutchings said:

... with not too many locks ideally, but essentially good scenery and lots of lovely pubs, ideally selling real ale Along the way.   I am a passionate walker, he is recovering from knee surgery so limited in walking distance so we thought canal boating would be ideal.  

 

17 minutes ago, Mariahutchings said:

...Looking at the comments I am thinking that plenty of pubs and scenery may be more important than the number of locks, although I know we don't want to be stopping continuously to open or close.  We are both fit (except the knee !) so can cope with a few. 

 

After reading the bit I quoted from your original post, I was going to suggest that locks fit your profiles quite well - you'll get a good walk and plenty of exercise whilst he'll have plenty to do without having to leave the boat much.  From your latest post, you appear to be reaching a similar conclusion, which is good because it opens up the possibilities considerably.  

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From Ashby boats you could head down to Braunston and back, this would give you 8 locks and a bit more cruising. Once at Braunston you could carry on for another day depending on how long it takes you to get there or turn and head back. You would then get to stop at the Greyhound which is an unspoilt canal pub with a very nice food menu.

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The Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal is very pretty and most of it is rural. 

It’s my pick if the system and I had a boat moored there for a few years.

It’s one of the earlier contour canals and follows a river valley down to Stourport So the locks come singularly at intervals as the valley drops down to the river Severn rather than in flights as on some later canals. You can take a detour up the Shropshire Union canal which is lock free for many miles from it’s junction with the S & W at Wolverhampton / Autherley Junction. The S  & W canal is generally sheltered from the winds that can blow cold on more exposed canals in autumn.

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On 19/09/2018 at 17:50, Mariahutchings said:

Thank you all for the comments so far.   I will research Ashby a bit further, though I am thinking 22 miles might be a bit short for us for a week. ??  Looking at the comments I am thinking that plenty of pubs and scenery may be more important than the number of locks, although I know we don't want to be stopping continuously to open or close.  We are both fit (except the knee !) so can cope with a few.  MAybe Oxford would be okay, we don't mind walking into a village for a pub or two. :) 

 

In 2011 we hired from Springwood Haven (hire base has since moved into Coventry basin), just north of Nuneaton, for a week. Although the Ashby itself wasn't enough for a full week, after doing the full length of the Ashby we also went up to Atherstone and back (still no locks) then down to Hawkesbury Junction. After a very worthwhile visit to The Greyhound we went through the (extremely shallow/easy) lock, the first one we ever did, and headed down the Oxford canal. We did not have enough time left to get all the way to Rugby but, had we done so, it would still have been lock-free apart from the very quick and easy one by the afore-mentioned, and not to be missed, Greyhound pub.

 

i would therefore disagree that this option would be too short for a week. However, in the unlikely event that it was (given the relatively short days in October), you just need to go through the easy Hillmorton flight at Rugby and you have, I would say, at least another 2 full days of lock-free cruising to do for the return trip from Hillmorton to the winding hole near The Folly pub (again not to be missed) at the bottom of the Napton flight. If you had time you could also stop at Braunston (more pubs!).

 

i haven't checked on  https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi  myself but I reckon that if you (for example) put in Stoke Golding (Ashby Boats hire base) as the start and end points, and put in Atherstone and Napton winding holes as intermediate points, you will get a trip with a total of just 8 locks but so many hours that you would need to cruise at night to manage it.

 

 

Even just putting Atherstone (winding hole above locks) and the winding hole below Hillmorton locks in as intermediates would probably give you at least enough hours to fill a week and with only two (quick/easy) locks.

 

 

 

Edited by Lily Rose
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On 19/09/2018 at 14:12, mrsmelly said:

It's a strange world innit. For me the Llangollen is bloomin boring apart from a couple of big bridge jobbies it's no match to the  L and L round gargrave or even some of the Oxford ?

I think the Llangollen is best in winter when the leaves are off the trees

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