Tony Reeves

Thanks everyone! Some of the above we'll have to try on our next trip as the weekend did not turn out exactly as planned... In short, the river locks were closed on Saturday so we stayed put at Upton - a hangover-inducing night in the new Wheelhouse pub at the marina. (Great Sunday lunches by the way, but that was last week...) We got up early on Sunday and called the Diglis lockeeper. He said we could go through under indemnity terms so we set off upstream, locking through without any issue...until we came to the Diglis basin top lock, which was chained up! Clearly some sort of communication issue with the Diglis lockkeeper as I am certain he said the locks up to the basin were open. Luckily, we met up with another boater who had made arrangements with a CaRT chap to let him through at 2pm. We took both boats up into the top lock, and stopped for lunch while we waited to be let through. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful although it was well into dusk by the time we made it to the 3 locks of the Hanbury flight. We didn't speed although I got a funny look from the occupants of a moored boat as I motored past on tickover with a plate of roast chicken and vegetables in my hand, tiller tucked under my arm! As there were four of us aboard, we were pretty efficient through the locks all day but we excelled ourselves through the last 3 and gladly pulled into Droitwich Spa at the end of a long and tiring day. We'll save the barge canal for another time. Cheers!

Morning all, We're moving our NB from Upton to Droitwich Spa marina this weekend, via the Barge Canal. Ideally we'd like to stop outside Droitwich at a pub overnight on Saturday, prior to pushing through the next day to the Marina. Any good pubs en route? Cheers

Ah...now it makes sense. My first thought was "bloody hell!"

Dear all, I know this question will be the usual ' how long is a piece of string' type, but I''m looking for an approximate cost to have a new set of bow doors fitted, The current set are old and draughty, and don't exactly look nice! I'm thinking about a pair of single glazed wooden doors, that would fit a shell built by Midland Boats in 2003. Grateful for any input.

PM sent.

Not too hard! My wife works for a company that sources, refurbishes - and engineers new where required - parts for Ruston Hornsby engines amongst others.

This raises a debate I've been having with the staff at the Marina we use - is it legal for the seller to insist on 60/40?

Morning everyone, A quick heads-up; my in-laws were on their way down the Wolverhampton 21 yesterday afternoon when they were asked not to exit lock 6 by a BW chappie. Apparently the boater ahead couldn't close the top gate of lock 7. The BW team eventually retrieved some rubble/brickwork but then the gate wouldn't then close OR open again! It looked as if the lock had come of its hinges and the rubble was part of the gate structure. However, the lads managed an 'Arkwright'-esque j-j-jiggle and got the gate back on its hinge and sufficiently operational to let the small queue of boats through, but the lock will evediently need an inspection soon - might be worth keeping an eye on if you're planning on using the flight. Interesting that the last boat UP the flight had left most of the top gates open and the anti- vandal locks undone.

If you're still at Upton on Monday drop me a line...I'm staying on my boat next week.

Thanks everybody for the informative and prompt replies! I spoke the Gloucester and Upper Lode lockeepers a couple of times today, and called off the trip at 3.30 when they told me Upper Lode had hit 3.90m and was officially in flood. All advice noted for next time - which hopefully won't be too long! Many thanks.... (now, I have lots of questions about solar power and battery banks...) Tony

Hi everybody. I've been reading through the forum a lot over the past months - what a gold mine of information! We bought our boat in 2010 ( ex hire fleet ) and moved to Upton marina last October. We've done a lot of canal trips as the boat was previously moored at Alvechurch but are venturing south on the Severn this weekend. We plan to overnight at Gloucester so would be grateful for any tips on where to moor - I've also heard the lock up to the docks from the Severn is a challenge - is that true? Thanks in advance! Tony