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Would you mind giving me some of your time and direction regarding proper planning of the following scheme. . . I would greatly appreciate all unbiased opinions given our narrowboating criteria. Next April end of 2014 my friend and I will be flying over from Amsterdam after having spent 1.5 weeks riding bicycles through the tulips and paying our respects to a man who was stationed there during WWII. Once in jolly old England we then wish to float along an exquisite canal for 6 days, with forests and taking in pretty villages and authentic pubs with which to imbibe ourselves (?) of (?). . . various UK ales and the odd scotch. History is high on our list of likes as well as pastoral country settings. We aren't excited about boating past large scale development. Would like to take 1 - 4 hour walks from the boat. We want to actually boat for 3-4 hrs/day maximum. We don't want to deal with many locks. I know that if we don't choose the Llangollen we will have to handle some locks, looking for a maximum of 30 locks (+ or -) in total. We very well could end up staying in one location more than one night and would like to choose the right section of a canal to start from. We may end up only partially boating (half way + or -) the weeklong route. We need to make that part awesome! Do you know of a 3-4 day route that may be perfect for our version of 1 week? Once we figure out the right trip for us, then we can hire the narrowboat. The Nicholson's Guide - would you recommend this once we've chosen a route? Other guides/maps? Can you help me by looking at my narrowed down list of 4 canals and then give me your opinion please (given my lengthy and rather demanding requirements...)? South Oxford Llangollen (Bettisfield) - is where we've been looking at embarking from. (Less than a week travel won't get us to the famous aqueduct me thinks.) Staffordshire and Worcestershire. Ashby Canal Thank you very kindly, Carol