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Four counties ring


daveyboi2050

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Yes, very, provided you are prepared to put in moderately long days.

 

But if you have to complete in a "hire boat week", bear in mind......

 

1) Opening times, and particularly last passage through Harecastle, because if you turned up there too late in a day, you could loose a fair bit of time until it reopened next day.

 

2) Locks at the top part of it can get very busy, particularly in school Summer holidays. We have queued well over an hour to get onto the "Middlewich Branch" at Wardle lock, over 2 hours in a very large build up at Church Minshull lock on that same arm, and not insignificant lengths of time at the Hack Green locks on the Shroppie. Some bits of the journey may take a lot longer than the planning assumptions in things like CanalPlanAC, for this reason.

 

On the other hand we have at Easter been round most of it in an ex-working boat, in well under a week, with few delays, and not particularly long days, so Summer is almost certainly the problem!

 

Some people favour going anti-clockwise, because they reckon a lot of the hire companies describe the route as clockwise, and therefore perhaps more hire-boats go clockwise than anti, making anti less busy. No idea if that holds any substance, but it can feel that way, certainly!

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Hi. WE did it in a week. Started from Stoke and did the Tunnel on the pick up day. We even had the boat back on the friday evening rather than saturday morning, as the weather was shall we say poor ! As Alan says, some long days and lots of locks, but we enjoyed. :rolleyes:

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There are a few things you'll have to do to complete in a week:

1. Turn all phones off so friends can't call and say 'meet you tomorrow for lunch and can we join you for the afternoon'

2. Ignore all lovely mooring places and keep to schedule

3. Close your eyes as you go through Tixall Wide in case your tempted to stop for a day or two

4. Forget mooring up early in the afternoon with cups of tea and books

5. Ban bacon butties and cups of tea/coffee sat outside in the early morning sunshine watching the birds

6. Certainly don't have a day off here and there because the fire is cosy and because ... well, just because you can

 

or you'll be like us - we didn't even come close in TWO weeks!!

 

:D

Edited by Jo_
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Isn't the point of a canal holiday to slow down and enjoy yourself, not rush around tyring to break records?

 

 

To a point, yes. But when you pick up the boat and have a ring to complete in a set time, this somewhat goes out of the window. When you have the luxury of your own boat, with no time constraints, you can slow down. But even on a hire schedule, the pace of life is still slowed from the norm.

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Isn't the point of a canal holiday to slow down and enjoy yourself, not rush around tyring to break records?

Someone always makes this point whenever there is a "Can I do this route in this time" question and I find it really strange. Isn't the point of any holiday to make the most of the opportunity to enjoy it as you see fit, rather than act in a way deemed appropriate by someone else? That's what work is for, holidays are to get away from that! Plenty of hirers (and I daresay owners as well) enjoy doing reasonably long days and cruising as far as possible, if you only get a week each year on a boat what's wrong with making the most of it? I did the Avon Ring in a week last September, via Droitwich rather than the shorter route on the W&B from Worcester and had a fabulous time. I'd much rather have done that than potter along doing a couple of hours each day. Other people would have hated it. Each to his own.

 

As for the question, four counties in a week is no trouble at all. Plenty of time for sight seeing as well as cruising.

 

Edit - Others had the same thought, only spent less time typing!

Edited by Spesh
  • Greenie 1
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Someone always makes this point whenever there is a "Can I do this route in this time" question and I find it really strange. Isn't the point of any holiday to make the most of the opportunity to enjoy it as you see fit, rather than act in a way deemed appropriate by someone else? That's what work is for, holidays are to get away from that! Plenty of hirers (and I daresay owners as well) enjoy doing reasonably long days and cruising as far as possible, if you only get a week each year on a boat what's wrong with making the most of it? I did the Avon Ring in a week last September, via Droitwich rather than the shorter route on the W&B from Worcester and had a fabulous time. I'd much rather have done that than potter along doing a couple of hours each day. Other people would have hated it. Each to his own.

 

As for the question, four counties in a week is no trouble at all. Plenty of time for sight seeing as well as cruising.

 

Edit - Others had the same thought, only spent less time typing!

 

Have a greenie. :cheers:

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There are a few things you'll have to do to complete in a week:

1. Turn all phones off so friends can't call and say 'meet you tomorrow for lunch and can we join you for the afternoon'

2. Ignore all lovely mooring places and keep to schedule

3. Close your eyes as you go through Tixall Wide in case your tempted to stop for a day or two

4. Forget mooring up early in the afternoon with cups of tea and books

5. Ban bacon butties and cups of tea/coffee sat outside in the early morning sunshine watching the birds

6. Certainly don't have a day off here and there because the fire is cosy and because ... well, just because you can

 

or you'll be like us - we didn't even come close in TWO weeks!!

 

:D

 

 

Thanks for your sarcastic comments now i actually have a 2 week trip booked would also like to head up to chester after the FCR

To be honest i tend to be wide awake by 6am while on boats so iam normally up & off after a full english breakfast & shower by 730-8am and always stop to have a nosev

Around the villages.and tend to stop around 5ish.i do plan were am going to stay over etc thou.

Edited by daveyboi2050
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As for the question, four counties in a week is no trouble at all. Plenty of time for sight seeing as well as cruising.

 

 

Given plenty of daylight, and a keen able crew, you can actually do the Four Counties Ring in around 4 days! My log from the mid 60's (when I was young, and we had a crew of four) shows we did Audlem Wharf to "Cut End" (Autherley Junction) in one day, actually about 13 hours non-stop. This is well over 30 miles and 23 locks! To achieve this speed needs a crew member lock-wheeling on a bike up lock flights.

 

But I do agree that it takes longer in the summer, when there's more people on the Ring. And it takes longer if you want to shop, go to pubs or sight-see.

 

Now I'm older, even a week is pushing it .....

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It certainly can be done in a week but this would depend greatly on no problems en-route. A good night in the pub on one evening might make you reluctant to have an early start, and bad weather may bring delays such as happened a couple of daye ago in Woodseaves cutting which would certainly have caused a problem in getting back in time. :wacko:

 

Regards

 

Howard

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.............and bad weather may bring delays such as happened a couple of daye ago in Woodseaves cutting which would certainly have caused a problem in getting back in time. :wacko:

Although, to be fair, that kind of thing could impact any hire boaters, even those on a very, very relaxed "out and back" schedule, and not attempting to do any kind of "ring".

 

If any stoppage suddenly occurs between you and the base you have to get back to, you are in trouble, if you have not built in contingency time of at least the length of such a stoppage.

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Thanks for your sarcastic comments now i actually have a 2 week trip booked would also like to head up to chester after the FCR

To be honest i tend to be wide awake by 6am while on boats so iam normally up & off after a full english breakfast & shower by 730-8am and always stop to have a nosev

Around the villages.and tend to stop around 5ish.i do plan were am going to stay over etc thou.

 

Oi! I wasn't being in the LEAST sarcastic!! I was reflecting on our inability to do what we set out to do. We got half way and then just retraced our steps instead of doing the whole ring. Mind you, it didn't help that I'd stepped in a hole in the grass and broken my ankle on day 5!! So we decided to avoid the lock-fest! We covered a lot of ground when we were in hire boats and wanted to get to places. It's just now that it seems far more difficult - everyone wants to visit and we are older and lazier!

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Oi! I wasn't being in the LEAST sarcastic!! I was reflecting on our inability to do what we set out to do. We got half way and then just retraced our steps instead of doing the whole ring. Mind you, it didn't help that I'd stepped in a hole in the grass and broken my ankle on day 5!! So we decided to avoid the lock-fest! We covered a lot of ground when we were in hire boats and wanted to get to places. It's just now that it seems far more difficult - everyone wants to visit and we are older and lazier!

 

another stupid question but are all the locks on the FCR narrow locks? or are there any double locks on the staffs ans worcester etc?

Edited by daveyboi2050
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The Caldon Canal is beautiful, especially at this time of year with the bluebells out.

 

The diversion down to Chester is hard work with double locks there and back If you want to visit Chester, moor up at Barbridge and get the number 84 bus - takes you right into the centre of the city. Your boat will be safer at Barbridge, you'll save time and have plenty of time to see the city.

 

I know everyone raves about how pretty the Llangollen canal is, but beware - its also one of the busiest in the country. You could end up wasting a lot of time queuing at locks.

 

You could always explore the Staffs and Worcs canal further and visit Kinver.

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Excellent cheers

 

We are now debating to use the whole to weeks to do it with a trip up thr caldon or do it in a week and head up to chester or towards Llangollen

 

I'd recommend the detour up both arms of the Caldon canal, it makes a logical addition to the Four Counties Ring if you have set aside 2 weeks. The trip to Chester and/or Llangollen could be set aside for another trip, and depending on where you hire from, you could select a slightly nearer base or choose a different company, etc so as not to repeat too much of the canal network. Or, you could select eg Nantwich or Middlewich as a starting point, and this would give you the first 1/2 day of 'familiar' canal to ease you into the next trip.

 

Also, you could go right to the end of the SU and go to Ellesmere Port - the last section between Chester and EP is a bit neglected but it offers a contrast on the beautiful scenery of somewhere like Bunbury and Beeston.

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The diversion down to Chester is hard work with double locks there and back If you want to visit Chester, moor up at Barbridge and get the number 84 bus - takes you right into the centre of the city. Your boat will be safer at Barbridge, you'll save time and have plenty of time to see the city.

 

But as it's a boating holiday, there's a good chance they might prefer to go by boat. After all, you can take a bus anytime.

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