[First time boating holiday, circular, Southern-ish?]

Quite like the idea of starting in Oxford, be a bit of a pilgimage for me as I'm quite a fan of the Colin Dexter Morse novels.

 

How much extra is the Thames Licence? Is that a bit like the Windermere one, you have to pay them to stick a number plate on your boat? Also (sorry for sounding thick here) but why does the Thames river have locks on? I thought the idea of a river was it flows gently down by gravity, is it to make it easier to navigate?

 

Rob

[First time boating holiday, circular, Southern-ish?]

Some great replys thanks everyone.

 

Will reply properly to you all tomorrow, must admit at the moment I'm watching a 1991 programme I downloaded off thebox.bz about the southern section of the Oxford Canal, if half the places and museums are still open now I think it will be high up (read top) of our list.

 

PS if anyone wants an invite to thebox.bz (loads of British TV, railways, history, canals etc.) just send a pm but you'll need to watch your ratio.

 

Rob

[First time boating holiday, circular, Southern-ish?]

Hi All, and thanks for the replies so far,

 

@Baghdad Boatman: Yes we'll certainly look into the Oxford Canal, actually I was watching Great British Railway Journeys the other day and it had Tooleys Boatyard in Banbury on, that's certainly the sort of thing that's good to see en-route.

 

@John thanks for the reply, that's another vote for the Oxford Canal then, looks promising.

 

@Grace & Favour: Llangollen would certainly be scenic, in fact as a youth me and a friend walked the Offas Dyke path, part of which walks over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. My only slight concern is that it's a bit closeby, we live near Preston so I think if we were going away for a week I'l like to be a bit further away.

 

What about The Broads? How do they compare to Canals? I guess the boats and water are wider, is it as pleasant as bumbling along a canal though or is it a bit more tidal?

 

Rob

[First time boating holiday, circular, Southern-ish?]

Hi All,

 

First time poster here!

 

The missus and I together with another couple (and our dog!) are planning on going on a week long boating holiday this year, possibly around June/July, so we're busy researching the canals and getting ideas on where to go.. Hitherto my boating experience has been limited to an inflatable with outboard in the Lake District, and a bit of experience driving my brothers 35' narrowboat on the Leeds Liverpool a few years ago.

 

So what we're looking for in an ideal world:

 

1. Canal 'down south', being a Northerner I am acutely aware that the climate gets better the further one goes down the M6, A1/A14.

2. Nothing too complex in terms of Locks, rivers, etc. As we're first timers we'd like a gentle introduction.

3. We'll be only looking at probably 5 or 6 hours cruising a day, we'd like to get out and explore pretty villages, abandonded windmills, and the like, plus I'm under no illusion as to the gravitational effect a good canalside tavern would have on us.

4. Nothing too 'built up', so we don't really want long stretches through cities (I'm thinking Birmingham or The Big Smoke).

5. A circular route would be great, but I know point (3) may limit this.

 

I was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations as to where might be suitable? We're also looking into The Broads, I've been to Suffolk a few times and absolutely love the place, so this is another option.

 

Thanks for your time and looking forward to some pointers.

 

Rob