Peter X

OldGoat: Help, I'm confused! So this Napton boat you hired came with a cross bed, which when extended had its own food supply and a radiator to keep the food warm? Wouldn't you just heat the food in the galley and consume it there? But I can see the attraction of having warm food available during the night...

I'm 6'0" but not overweight, and have often slept on a cross bed (in Brighton, the NBT butty, 7 feet wide) without problems. Except there was one night moored part way up the Wolverhampton 21 when the pound dried up making the boat slope sideways a bit, and I woke to find my weight pushing my head against the hull! In general, I think if I were 6'4" I could cope on a cross bed by lying a bit diagonally, but sharing it would only work with a shorter friend. If I were fat too I suppose it would get awkward.

I agree too but here's a bit more detail... Not just west of Oxford, EA "registration" rules apply on all their water i.e. from the PLA boundary just below Teddington, all the way up to Lechlade, plus the last little bit of the Kennet at Reading including Blakes Lock. You pay at the first EA lock you come to where someone's on duty. I think any powered leisure boat counts as a launch, and charges vary according to whether you buy a "day", week, month or year. Within that you pay by area in square metres, defined as length x beam, and the charge gets bigger according to what bracket y

I've seen Gyles Brandreth on TV (on Countdown some years ago) and I wasn't upset by the experience at all. Seemed like a decent bloke to me, not irritating but fun. If they're doing the Thames then the GU in separate episodes, do we get a chunk about the Teddington to Brentford transit too? There would be interesting things to show and say there.

Further entertainment is to be had from that ad for Pooley Hall farmhouse. It states that: The present Hall was built in 1509 by Sir Thomas Cockayne "The Magnificent" who was knighted at the Battle of Tournai by King Henry VII. Feeling interested, and doubting that Henry VII got around to a foreign war like that while he was busy spending his reign consolidating his hold on the throne after his victory over Richard III at Bosworth, I just looked up the history.I think the estate agent has got details wrong, lifting an error from the Wikipedia article on Pooley Hall! The 1509 date of

I'd feel haunted if I were passing by on the canal when the new owner decides to try out that cannon shown in the estate agent's photos.

My tips: 1. Turn left at Reading, because the route up the Oxford canal then on to Fradley Junction is probably easier than going right down river, doing the tidal bit from Teddington to Brentford then up the GU joining the Oxford canal at Braunston (or the alternative route via Leicester). Also cheaper, because it's possible and legal to do the Reading to Oxford transit (a lovely stretch of river) on a "one day" EA "registration" if you're quick. But a week would be plenty if you want to do another nice bit of river instead, i.e. Reading to Teddington, in order to go via Brentford.