Hello all!
I am a new member on this forum, and fairly new to boating in general. I am going on my fourth boat trip in a few weeks with a some good friends, but this is my first time organising it, and I really need some help in planning the route, so I thought I would ask you experienced chaps! The tricky bit is that a few of our friends can only make it for a part of the trip, which means I need to be flexible and pick a route that allows pick ups and drop-offs in reasonably accessible places. Any pointers much appreciated.
These are the parameters:
- Starting in Braunston on a Friday at Noon
- Finishing in Braunston on the following Monday morning at 10am (i.e. a total of almost 3 full days of boating)
- We have a couple of people arriving late (Saturday morning), and a couple of people leaving early (Sunday morning). Some are arriving by car and others train/taxi at various points along the route. I can expect my friends to walk along the towpath, or wait at a pub to an extent.
- Some good pubs for the evenings;
- A camp-site for a couple of tents (Saturday night only)
- Picturesque countryside route, and avoiding the city (in other words, not towards Birmingham)
- We're an energetic, semi experienced crew, and, within the parameters above, would like to cover as much distance as we can in the time we have (whilst maintaining of course all due canal-etiquette and courtesy!!) :-)
I appreciate that the list above is a long one and satisfying it all might be very tricky - consider it a challenge(!)- and we'll compromise as required! I was considering going south down the oxford canal - but this might be a bit remot for my friends to reach. Which is prettier/better of either going north up the Oxford Canal from Braunston or south down the Grand Union? Or should I stick with south down the Oxford canal and try reach the turn in Cropredy at some point on the Saturday afternoon?
Thanks in advance!
B. :-)
