River Boating Forum

in early may this year we went off on a holiday on the shropie.
we hired from norbury junction a 65ft boat called SOVEREIGN LADY which was new in 2006.
there was 4 of us, two couples, so there was plenty of room and all the mod cons.
we decided to go south and stayed our first night at wheaton aston, agood canal side
pub reasonable food and good ale.
next day saw us at the junction of the shropie and the staffs and worcester and decided to
carry on south all the way to stourport on severn, this took another 3 days with more eating and
drinking establishments sampled along the way. this is a very pleasant and picturesque canal and really
not one to be missed, with stourport being a must.
the only down side to the week was when we got to aldersley junction and realised
we had time to do the wolverhampton 21, and had problems with the local kids half way up, but apart from
that little episode our journey back down next day was no problem and we rejoined the shropie for our last
night at gnosall heath. a good week all round and well recommended

alan

We did the staffs and worcester afew years back. We had our honeymoon on our boat 'Halo Too' a Norman 23 starting from the River Avon, heading up to the Severn and on to the canal at Stourport. We really enjoyed the Staffs and Worcester but it was a bit nerve racking when meeting large narrow boats on the wrong side of the Canal coming round the corner! we had a few very near misses! We broke down at Kinver but luckily there was a lovely pub there where we had a couple of meals.

Bratch locks were fun, and i can see why they have a permanent lock keeper there! as they have so many arguements with boaters going up and coming down!

We were trying to get to Llangollen but would never have made it in the time, so we got somewhere up the Shroppie and turned back, we didnt enjoy the Shrop as much, it was difficult to get near the sides, we kept hitting the bottom and was very weedy.

But all in all we had fun, we want to do the canals again, but we decided we would use a hire boat and never our own again.!

Best Pub on the Shroppie is "The Anchor" at High Ofley
Strange little place , no pumps your pint comes from a keg in the celler
Hard benches to sit on and no shade around the light bulb
An open fire and a great atmosphere

But when the locals come in a bit later on, you think your in a 70s
Hammer House of horror film
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Done the Wolverhampton a few times with no trouble
Had some chav's trying to sell their "Knockoff" in the basin at the top
Weed on the BCN is a real problem, gets glued to your prop and zaps your power
The weed thrives because the water is so clear, you can see the shopping trolleys
before you hit them

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The Llangollen is very nice . It has quite a flow on it, cruisers fair better than narrowboats
You don't want to get stuck behind a NB in a tunnel or on the aqueduct.
The run into Llangollen its self is the most beautiful and also the most tricky
as the canal is nothing more than a feeder very narrow with passing places
At one point a sign tells you to send a crew member ahead to check the cut is clear.
When I went the new basin had just opened and cost £5 a night to moor there.
Well worth it for a secure mooring with electric in town

Coming back don't do as I did and slow down to pass moored boats (some tight a*#ed NB owners moor in the narrows
outside town so they don't have to pay £5 ) you lose all steering and the flow pulls you into them
Some red faced idiot actually told me to slow down I was in tick over.

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I too had problems with NBs trying to go round corners in neutral on the Staffs and Worcs
You have to learn to second guess them and stay away from the front end
A 20+ tonne steel battering ram against GRP doesn't bare thinking about

Don't look down

A view from "Tetra" on that aqueduct .

norman18grp wrote:A 20+ tonne steel battering ram against GRP doesn't bare thinking about

Yes that was our thought too! one reason why we changed to a wide beam cruiser!
We plan to start hiring narrow boats in a couple of years and go with my husbands mum and dad.

sorry simon

couldn't find high ofley on my map, it must be farther north than norbury.

yes, there really is some tight turns on the staffs and worcester, you certainly have to be

wide awake.

we stayed at kinver one night and tried 3 pubs, all fairly good, and bratch locks is not to be missed.

alan