Morten Welde

Thanks all for the advice. This is all very helpful. I reckon we'll avoid the river this time. It might had been a different case if we'd had two week, but with one week+ we should aim for a "proper" canal. And as you rightly point out Nick, doing a ring as the Cheshire ring could also be an attractive option.

True, it's a pity not more hire firms allows you to leave the boat at one end so that you don't have to go back in you own tracks, but I suppose that is part of the parcel and we'll not be the only ones that have done that so it can't be that bad. A lot of firms are located out in the skits, aye, but taking a minicab doesn't have to be outragously expensive either. I once took a cab from Heathrow to Ipswich (the worst day ever - a delayed flight and a train strike so that was the only option). It cost me £140. A lot of money (work paid), but split among a group it wouldn't have been that bad.

This is great, thank you so much. I've been to Oxford once (great city, but maybe best enjoyed outside the high season when it'sfull of tourists) so I was thinking that having that as our target and highlight of our trip was a good idea, but I suppose that a river being less flexible and more difficuklt to navigate makes sense. No decision yet though, but I'll have a look at the web sites suggested. Planning is part of the fun so we'll look at Things in mnore detail in the coming weeks.

Just found this website and it looks just the ticket for a lot of my questions. I'm Norwegian and visit the uk several times a year - mostly for pleasure but now and then for work too. I love the English countryside with their pubs, the people and the landscape and I've always wanted to go on a narrow boat holiday. This summer it looks as I'm finally going on one. We shall see if it's for me, but I very much doubt if it isn't. Anyway, enough about me. Since flying in from abroad the area around Oxford should be convenient. We'll be away for a week and I was originally thinking setting off from Oxford and going north and then returning. However, I'm also considering going from Reading and up the Thames to Oxford and back. Any thoughts on this or other one-week routes in that area?