Which way should I go?

[Dave_P]

I have a couple of weeks off work at Easter so will be heading off from Birmingham on my first proper cruise of the year. Since I've mostly gone North, West or South in the past, I've decided to head East this time. I'll be pootling down to Lapworth towards the end of March and setting off properly from there.

 

It seems that I have 4 choices:

 

Down the GU, up the Northampton Arm and onto the Nene (I love river cruising). Then back via the North Oxford and Coventry.

 

Down the GU and see how far we get (MK maybe?) back via North Oxford and Cov.

 

GU and South Oxford (maybe to Oxford) and back.

 

GU and onto Leicester section, maybe a bit of the Soar and back via North Oxford and Cov.

 

 

So a big part of the routes is unchanged (Warwickshire Ring). It's the extra bits I'm interested in. Where would you go after Braunston/Napton?

[OldGoat]

You'll get many passionate views of folks favourite routes - all conflicting with the others.

 

Here's mine

The Nene is very pleasant but reports on here suggest that the 'top end' is a bit yucky at the moment and unless you can get to Peterboro' and a bit beyond it's not worth the effort - the remaining guillotine gates are tedious rather than heavy.

 

Parts of the GU after Braunston are awkward to moor and runs along by the M1 and trains - OK if you don't mind the noise.

 

Slightly the same for the Soar - Leicester is worth a visit if you can (must) moor at 'the Castle' - 35 broad locks down to Leicester and 35 back again - carry on and complete the ring would be more efficient - That would be my No. 2

 

My real choice is down to Oxford, once you've got past the summit pound (can be tedious if you're a lock person), then locks are plentiful but all very pretty and relaxing. Moor up in Oxford and spend a day there - ignore the tourist bit, instead walk down the side streets - Morse country- and visit some of the colleges. It's vacation time so there'll only be postgrads around.

If you've a day or so spare buy a one day's licence = 2 days worth if you start early and go upstream where they have 'proper' locks which are an absolute joy to work. Very rural but may not suit you. Not many official mooring spots but lots of farmers fields to moor beside - IG you can get ashore.

The advantage if this overall route is that there should be lots of water on the summit of the Oxford canal and not a lot of hire boats around.

[Neil2]

The nicest route of those is the South Oxford but it does make the trip an out and back. If you don't mind that and you haven't already done it, I'd strongly recommend it.. The South Oxford is one of the prettiest canals in England and totally different to its Northern brother which I find quite tedious, by comparison.

 

The run down the GU to Milton Keynes is quite pleasant but at Easter I bet you'll get snarled up in a lot of hire boat traffic.

 

Going down the Nene will involve buying a river licence if you don't alread have a Gold licence. IIRC it was surprisingly expensive and not worth it for a short trip. We decided to wait until we have plenty of time to explore that part of the network properly.

 

The Leicester run I can't comment on, that will be our first trip in April.

[Richard T]

The Leicester line is good. We should be doing the East Mids ring at Easter river levels permitting. It is better for to do it clockwise because if the river levels do rise we can moor at Shardlow and get home by bus. The otherway round it means mooring at Kilby Bridge which more difficult to get home fro.

Rememeber the closing times at Watford and Foxton - you need to arrive so that you are clear of the flight by closing time. 2years ago we and several other boats got caught at Watford where the moorings are very noisy at the top.

[Dave_P]

Interesting views. I had thought of the South Oxford as my least preferred choice. Does the forum think it might be possible to get to Oxford and back and do the ring in 15 days?

[OldGoat]

That's a piece of string - which ring , where? and where in Brum do you start?

 

We allow 4 days to get from Oxford to Napton and 2 days to Brum via the GU. 12 days for a there and back, leaving you 3 days to do some form of a loop.

It might be easier if you toddle over to canalplan :-

 

http://canalplan.org.uk/index.html

 

an try some routes for yourself. 'Tis quite easy to use and you can view sights along the way with submitted photos.

[Dave_P]

That's a piece of string - which ring , where? and where in Brum do you start?

 

We allow 4 days to get from Oxford to Napton and 2 days to Brum via the GU. 12 days for a there and back, leaving you 3 days to do some form of a loop.

It might be easier if you toddle over to canalplan :-

 

http://canalplan.org.uk/index.html

 

an try some routes for yourself. 'Tis quite easy to use and you can view sights along the way with submitted photos.

I thought I'd mentioned the starting point and the ring in my original post. Lapworth and the Warwickshire Ring.

[Maffi]

Dave do you want to go on a speed trip or have a leisurely holiday? If you return to home by the North Oxford you will also have to include the Coventry and the Brum and Fazeley. If you do the South Oxford there are two hire boat companies at Napton and 4 down the other end, not to mention Braunston or Clifton.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Maffi

[Athy]

Dave do you want to go on a speed trip or have a leisurely holiday? If you return to home by the North Oxford you will also have to include the Coventry and the Brum and Fazeley. If you do the South Oxford there are two hire boat companies at Napton and 4 down the other end, not to mention Braunston or Clifton.

Absolutely - but I infer from his opening post that Dave has already booked his boat from the Brum area.

[Maffi]

Absolutely - but I infer from his opening post that Dave has already booked his boat from the Brum area.

 

My point was not about getting a boat but the number of hire boats on the water as was mentioned by Old Goat

[Athy]

I see - you mean that the route may be congested at that time of year, with queues at locks &c?

[junior]

I think he'll be doing it on his own boat.

[Athy]

I think he'll be doing it on his own boat.

Ah yes, Beau, I have just noticed the boat name on his avatar. Presumably she is moored in Brum, that's why the trip will be starting from there.

[Dave_P]

Yes, as ever, I shall be traveling on my own boat. I just put the post in this section as it seemed more appropriate. I've never been east of Braunston before (there are reasons which I won't go into) so I thought I'd see what the forum had to say about my intended route. I was interested to get onto the Nene since I like a river cruise. To be honest, I may not make up my mind until I get to Napton. The South Oxford would be a tempting option which I hadn't initially thought of. Trying to do a combined Warwickshire ring with the East Mids ring would seem to be far too long for an enjoyable fortnight.

Ah yes, Beau, I have just noticed the boat name on his avatar. Presumably she is moored in Brum, that's why the trip will be starting from there.

My mooring is in Brum but I'm not actually on it right now. I may have gypsy blood as I don't like staying put for too long in one place. Next weekend I'll heading East, maybe to Lapworth, maybe to Warwick. I have to commute to work in the Black Country for the last week of March. Then I have two weeks off to go cruising properly. It may be that I'll have to be back in Brum at the end of it, but if not, I may commute from Tamworth/Lichfield, somewhere like that.

 

My original post was more of a question about which are the nicest or most interesting routes to take.

[Athy]

 

 

My original post was more of a question about which are the nicest or most interesting routes to take.

Thanks for the clarification.

My vote would be for the South Oxford route. Yes I am biased because I moor at Cropredy. But I moor there because I find the S. Oxford a pretty and interesting waterway, largely rural and scenic, some locks but not in excessive quantities, shopping and pubs at strategic intervals. It's a largely contour route so you literally never know what's round the next corner (if you're travelling at Easter, it could be us!)

 

From Napton to Oxford and back, allowing a modest 7 hours travelling per day, would take just over a week.

[Dave_P]

I have friends on the Oxford, and in Oxford and in Bicester - so that might sway things a little too...

[john6767]

From Napton to Oxford takes us 3.5 to 4 days, so if you allowed 8 days for a South Oxford side trip that should be enough. The rest is basically the Warwickshire ring, which many hirers do in a hire week (6.5 days). So if you get a head start by having moved to Lapworth (Station to Birmingham) before the start of your holidays, and you could go back to work from say Fazeley (Station to Birmingham), then you would only need say 5 days to do the rest of the Warwickshire ring. So your 15 days would be enough to do this trip I think.

 

We have not been on the Nene yet, but plan to in August, but from my planing if you said you had 8 days from Brunston for that side trip then you have 2 days each way on the Nene at best. Not sure that is worth it, but those who know the Nene better could answer that one.

 

If you trip was going well you could have a little jaunt on the Thames at Oxford to get a river fix, although 1 or 2 day licences for the Thames are proportionality expensive. I assume that the same re. licenses would apply to the Nene, but you could provably justify a weeks licence for that.

[Dave_P]

Does anyone know how much it costs for a visitor license on the Thames for 1 or 2 days?

[john6767]

Does anyone know how much it costs for a visitor license on the Thames for 1 or 2 days?

The charges are here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-thames-boat-registration-charges

they do it on area of the boat and the lock keepers will treat an NB as 2m wide to make the maths easy! They will also round the length down to the nearest meter. At least that is what has happened to us.

 

This is the form that you will fill in with the lock keeper

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-thames-visiting-launch-short-period-application

 

So for example a 50ft NB, the lock keepers will count as 30sqm (15x2), therefore 1 day is £32 (if you go on first thing in the morning that gives you that day and the next day, ie. 1 night on the river, so you can have a nice little trip for that). For 7 days on the same basis it would be £52, so it gets much more affordable if you have time to stay longer.

[Dave_P]

 

So for example a 50ft NB, the lock keepers will count as 30sqm (15x2), therefore 1 day is £32 (if you go on first thing in the morning that gives you that day and the next day, ie. 1 night on the river, so you can have a nice little trip for that). For 7 days on the same basis it would be £52, so it gets much more affordable if you have time to stay longer.

Is that right? It doesn't read like that in your link. It says "The term ‘day’ is the 24 hours commencing after midnight and finishing at midnight." i.e. if you get on the river at 9.00am, you'll need to be off it by midnight.

[OldGoat]

Is that right? It doesn't read like that in your link. It says "The term ‘day’ is the 24 hours commencing after midnight and finishing at midnight." i.e. if you get on the river at 9.00am, you'll need to be off it by midnight.

 

No - you have to translate officialdom speek into understandable English.

What it means it's a 24 hour licence starting from midnight on day one to midnight on the next day. It doesn't mention / define any charge if you turn up a 09:00 (or even 00.01hrs) on day 1. There's no charge for the first day if it's not a full 24 hours. So you get two boating days with an overnight stop (which is probably what was intended in the first place).

 

It's official and has been checked many times.

 

All the true 'resident lockies' know this but short term folks may not. If you find one of these latter refuse to pay - he must give you a form(timed and dated) and he can't stop you from proceding. Just present it at the next lock to somebody who knows what they're doing and pay there.

 

Let me know with 'name rank and number' and I'll see he gets a bollocking....

[john6767]

Is that right? It doesn't read like that in your link. It says "The term ‘day’ is the 24 hours commencing after midnight and finishing at midnight." i.e. if you get on the river at 9.00am, you'll need to be off it by midnight.

As OldGoat has said, the midnight that is being referred to is the midnight after you buy the licence, not the one before. Probably better to think of it as the number of nights on the river than the number of days, so the 1 day licence lets you stay on the river over 1 night. So plenty of time to say go down river to Abingdon, stay overnight there and come back up to Oxford the next day.

[Dave_P]

 

No - you have to translate officialdom speek into understandable English.

What it means it's a 24 hour licence starting from midnight on day one to midnight on the next day. It doesn't mention / define any charge if you turn up a 09:00 (or even 00.01hrs) on day 1. There's no charge for the first day if it's not a full 24 hours. So you get two boating days with an overnight stop (which is probably what was intended in the first place).

 

It's official and has been checked many times.

 

All the true 'resident lockies' know this but short term folks may not. If you find one of these latter refuse to pay - he must give you a form(timed and dated) and he can't stop you from proceding. Just present it at the next lock to somebody who knows what they're doing and pay there.

 

Let me know with 'name rank and number' and I'll see he gets a bollocking....

Does that mean I can go on to the river in the morning and come off on the evening of the same day and pay nothing, or is the overnight fee the minimum charge?

 

edit: and thanks for the info. I wouldn't want anyone to get a bollocking on my account though.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Dave_P

[john6767]

Does that mean I can go on to the river in the morning and come off on the evening of the same day and pay nothing, or is the overnight fee the minimum charge?

 

edit: and thanks for the info. I wouldn't want anyone to get a bollocking on my account though.

Nice idea, but I don't think that is the case.

[OldGoat]

Does that mean I can go on to the river in the morning and come off on the evening of the same day and pay nothing, or is the overnight fee the minimum charge?

 

edit: and thanks for the info. I wouldn't want anyone to get a bollocking on my account though.

 

Brill - by the same token that you wouldn't want anyone to get a bollocking - "We" need your money. EA Thames region needs your money - Loadsa' monay - 'cos it's Bust!

 

You and everybody else can rightly take advantage of the badly drawn up rule ('cos I suspect some legal bod wanted a fixed point to focus on that he needed when drafting the by-laws). Anyway a charitable view - as has been suggested above - it gives you an overnight stop on the River - to encourage you to come back ??

 

Don't worry - about said reprimand - I always speak to the lockies privately and in 'the best possible taste' - as they're a great bunch of guys and gals....