The Great Strugglers Boat Trip 2006

Yes!

It is back by popular demand, the annual (hopefully) narrowboat trip around the many and varied waterways of Britain.

This year a group of geeks, and one neogeek, will attempt to complete the Stourport Ring in a week.

Who?

 * Tim
 * Phil
 * Andy
 * Matt

Where ?
We will be starting from and returning to the Alvechurch marina.

Address and contact details of the boatyard
Scarfield Wharf

Alvechurch

Worcestershire

B48 7SQ

Tel: 0121 445 2909 Fax: 0121 447 7120

When?
Our trip will run from Monday 11th September where the boatyard aims to have our boat ready for us between 14:30 and 16:00 and we have until 10:00 on Monday 18th September 2006 to have fully vacated the boat itself back at the boatyard.

Approximate sunrise and sunset times are as follows:

How much?
£290 each. Please send to Phil before 24th August, details provided via email.

We will again operate a communual kitty in order to pay for:


 * groceries.
 * pub lunches
 * evening meals (where relevant)
 * general supplies of drink (alcoholic or otherwise) for the boat.
 * "random stuff" that may be required, example batteries for walkie-talkies.
 * disposable BBQ kit for a suitable evening.

Initial input to the kitty will be £30 on arrival at the marina in order to pay for the first pub lunch and then the shopping at Sainsburys.

I'd vote for putting a bit more in the initial kitty than this. £30 each gives us £120, which after the pub lunch will likely leave us with less than £100. I could easily see the shopping costinig that much, and even if not, then the kitty would be left with minimal cash at best... I propose putting, say £50 each in initially? --Matt 08:49, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

We will then add amounts to the kitty as and when required throughout the week, and divide any remaining money that is left at the end of the week between us.

We'll need to go grocery shopping every few days because there won't be a lot of room on the boat for fresh food such as bread and milk. Also bear in mind that it may be several days between cash machines so you will want to carry a bit of your own cash aside from the kitty.

Boat information
Plover.

What to bring
Space on the boat, and probably more importantly in the cars, will be limited, so try not to overpack. A large holdall for clothes and a small backpack for other bits and pieces seems reasonable.

Note that all bed linen is provided so you don't need to bring any of that. You will need to bring your own towel however. All cooking utensils and crockery etc. is also provided.


 * Waterproof clothing - we'll probably end up having to pilot the boat and do locks in the pouring rain.
 * Gloves - some locks are real bastards.
 * Torch - if you have one; we may run out of power some nights, plus for walking to pub, etc.
 * A Tea Towel - there will probably be at least one on the boat, but would be good if everyone could bring one so that we have enough.
 * Sunscreen or hat, & sunglasses - just in case it happens to be sunny.
 * A CafePress Mug - for dropping into the canal causing much hilarity.
 * Weak lemon drink - for drinking down furiously in one gulp in celebration of your hobby success.

Clothing considerations
Casual clothing that you don't mind getting dirty/worn is best. Jeans are fine, though if it rains can get waterlogged. Due to the possible weather conditions do bring a few sets of clothing as you may end up stuck outdoors in the rain for several hours after which you'll definitely want a change of clothes.

Footwear with decent grip is essential. Trainers are good most of the time, though if it's raining a pair of boots won't go a miss. You'll probably want to have more than one set of footwear in case one set gets soaked and needs to be dried.

There will be drying facilites to some extent on the boat, though obviously drying space is limited. There will be some radiators and an airing cupboard.

Lifejacket/Bouyancy Aid
Part of our route will take us onto the River Severn, which will be a significantly different experience from handling the boat on a canal due to the flow of the river.

The water in the river will also be significantly deeper in the channel than in the canals, therefore I would recommend that bouyancy aids/lifejackets are on hand, or worn, for this part of the trip itself.

Comms
Matt will provide walkie-talkies for everyone, though due to problems experienced last year with charging of them coupled with the fact that we lost track of where they were and which ones were charged a lot, there are some new rules!


 * Each person will be given a fully-charged walkie-talkie, labeled with their name. Everyone is obviously responsible for their own walkie-talkie.
 * Each person is responsible for bringing enough batteries for their walkie-talkie for however much they intend to use it.

I would think that bringing an extra 2 or 3 sets of batteries will be sufficient for running your walkie-talkie for all the time that we want to use them. One set of batteries = 4x AAA (note triple A, not double A).

10-4 ??

Planned route and schedule for the week
Our route will take us anti-clockwise round the "Stourport Ring" starting/ending at Alvechurch Boatyard.

The "Stourport Ring" consists of the following branches and sections of the following canals/rivers, that our route will take us round in the following order.

Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester) picking up this section at Alvechurch

Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Birmingham to King's Norton)

Birmingham Canal Navigations (Main Line)

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourton to Aldersley)

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourport to Stourton)

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Stourport Basin: Narrow Locks route)

River Severn (main river)

Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester) last part of the route back to Alvechurch.

The reason for choosing the anti-clockwise route is that we will be going downstream on the River Severn which will mean that the current is working to our advantage and will enable us to complete this section of the route a lot quicker.

There are a few online trip reports of trips around the Stourport Ring:


 * http://home.clara.net/hendricks/2000/index.html
 * http://www.benefuller.supanet.com/Home.html
 * http://www.bobulous.org.uk/canal/index.html

Here's a time-lapse video of a section through the flight of locks at Tarbigge:


 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXtfFTOJd8

Overall statistics of the route itself
Total distance is 93 miles, 3½ flg and 118 locks. There are at least 12 small aqueducts or underbridges and 9 tunnels.

Made up of 80 miles, 4½ furlongs of narrow canals; 12 miles, 7 furlongs of large rivers; 115 narrow locks; 3 large locks.

This will take 54 hours, 27 minutes which is 6 days, 6 hours and 27 minutes at 8 hours per day.

 A furlong is 1/8 of a mile 

''' If anyone has no objection, Phil would like to volunteer now to drive the boat for the section along the River Severn due to probably having more experience in handling power driven vessels on fast flowing water. '''

Monday 11th September
We will aim to get to the boatyard by 12:00 in order to have lunch at The Weighbridge Pub which is located at the marina itself (0121 445 5111).

After having lunch we will retire to Sainsbury's to pick up some supplies, which is on the A441 at the north edge of Redditch, here are some fun facts about the store we will be going to:


 * 400 parking spaces
 * 40 disabled parking spaces
 * 30 parent and child parking spaces
 * 25 checkouts
 * 3 ATM machine(s)

Perhaps we should consider stocking up on some things a bit more than we have done in the past? I'm thinking mainly of things like drinks (alcholic and otherwise), which always seem to run out and are also heavy and bulky to carry if some supermarket we find on-route is far from the canal.

This should take us quite nicely to around 14:00 where we should be back at the marina in order to pick up the boat which will be ready no earlier than 14:30.

Realistically on the first day we will probably not be able to do much more than 3 hours of cruising itself, however we should be able to achieve a reasonable amount of ground as there are no locks to navigate.

Sunrise: 06:34

Sunset : 19:31

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, approx 3 hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - total 7 miles, ½ flg, 0 locks, 0 moveable bridges (2 hours, 49 minutes)

Start Point : Alvechurch Boatyard, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

End Point   : Breedon Cross Railway Bridge No 74, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Birmingham to King's Norton)

Water Stop  : Not required today - boat will be given to us with full tank of water supplied.

Grocery Stop : Sainsbury's before going to the marina.

We will depart the marina and turn right on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester) heading towards Kings Norton and we will go through the Wast Hill Tunnel after approximately 3 miles from Alvechurch, we will then continue along the canal to King's Norton Junction where we will join the Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Birmingham to King's Norton) and our mooring spot for the evening will be near Breedon Cross Railway Bridge No 74

We will most likely eat on board this evening and then retire to a local pub for a few beverages of choice.

Tuesday 12th September
Sunrise: 06:37

Sunset : 19:31

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 13 hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 20 miles, 3½ flg, 3 locks, 0 moveable bridges (8 hours, 40 minutes)

Start Point : Breedon Cross Railway Bridge No 74, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Birmingham to King's Norton)

End Point   : Albion Wharf, Birmingham Canal Navigations (Main Line)

Water Stop  : Worcester Bar, Gas Street Basin. Junction of Worcester and Birmingham Canal with BCN

Grocery Stop : Worcester Bar, Gas Street Basin. Junction of Worcester and Birmingham Canal with BCN

Stop for lunch at Pudding Green Junction where there is a waterside pub

Wednesday 13th September
Sunrise: 06:39

Sunset : 19:29

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 12½ hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 11 miles, 3¾ flg, 34 locks, 0 moveable bridges (9 hours, 50 minutes)

Start Point : Albion Wharf, Birmingham Canal Navigations (Main Line)

End Point   : Swindon, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourton to Aldersley)

Water Stop  :

Grocery Stop :

fluffy description to follow

Thursday 14th September
Sunrise: 06:41

Sunset : 19:26

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 12½ hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 16 miles, 5½ flg, 15 locks (9 hours, 39 minutes)

Start Point : Swindon, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourton to Aldersley)

End Point   : Mitton Chapel Bridge No 7, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourport to Stourton)

Water Stop  :

Grocery Stop :

fluffy description to follow

Friday 15th September
Sunrise: 06:43

Sunset : 19:24

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 12 hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 17 miles, 5 flg, 16 locks (8 hours, 23 minutes)

Start Point : Mitton Chapel Bridge No 7, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourport to Stourton)

End Point   : Ivy Bridge No 16, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

Water Stop  :

Grocery Stop :

fluffy description to follow

Saturday 16th September
Sunrise: 06:44

Sunset : 19:21

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 11½ hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 13 miles, 6¾ flg, 20 locks (8 hours, 34 minutes)

Start Point : Ivy Bridge No 16, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

End Point   : Stoke Pound, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

Water Stop  :

Grocery Stop :

fluffy description to follow

Sunday 17th September
Sunrise: 06:45

Sunset : 19:18

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 11½ hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - total 3 miles, 3½ flg, 30 locks (5 hours, 24 minutes)

Start Point : Stoke Pound, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

End Point   : Tardebigge Wharf, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

Water Stop  :

Grocery Stop : Not required today, boat being handed back to the marina tomorrow morning so require to run down supplies and arrange to take back non perishable items.

fluffy description to follow

Monday 18th September
Sunrise: 06:46

Sunset : 19:16

Hours of usable daylight for cruising, 2½ hours.

Suggested cruising for this day - 2 miles, 6¾ flg, 0 locks (1 hour, 8 minutes)

Start Point : Tardebigge Wharf, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

End Point   : Alvechurch Boatyard, Worcester and Birmingham Canal (King's Norton to Worcester)

Water Stop  : Not required today, boat being handed back to the marina.

Grocery Stop : Not required today, boat being handed back to the marina.

fluffy description to follow

Photo links
Matt's Photos - Album: canal2006 / Password: stourport