Kennet and Avon or Oxford North?

[MtB]

On 19/03/2017 at 20:02, cuthound said:

Canals look completely different when travelling in the opposite direction, and give you the opportunity to stop at different places to the out trip.

Also rings can put a lot of pressure on you if you break down or meet a stoppage beyond the half way point, forcing you to do long days just to get back in time.

 

Very much agree. If you embark on a 'four day ring' your pace is dictated by the timetable. It can be very frustrating to see something you want to stop and investigate (e.g. a stately home, a nice pub, a windmill, etc) you simply can't. You have to press on to get around the ring and back in time.

[dmr]

1 hour ago, Amalgama said:

Wow!!! Thank you for your responses and advice! 

This is our long time dream   So on our first trip to UK (we are from Montréal), we want to do at least four days of boating. 

From yours answers it looks like that Soth Oxford could be a better option. 

Now we are torn between the section from Caen Hill Locks to Bath and section from Oxford to Napton. What are your suggestions? How far can we go on these stretches?

We are a couple with a teenage daughter. She definitely could do locks (some).

 

Caan Hill bottom to Bath is a truly spectacular bit of canal and only three locks (hopefully). The downside is it is very very busy, especially in summer. There are a huge number of local liveaboard boats in all styles from historic Dutch barges down to floating wrecks. There are also a huge number of hire boats that almost all head into Bath, especially at the weekend. You would need 4 full days to do this trip. Day one is a long day to Bradford on Avon, a lovely historic village with lots of mooring space but even more boats using them, it is usually, but not always, possible to find a spot. Day two is a fairly long day into Bath but very very pretty with two aqueducts to cross and the canal cut into the side of the Avon valley. Better done away from the peak season if possible.

............Dave 

[Captain Pegg]

8 minutes ago, dmr said:

Caan Hill bottom to Bath is a truly spectacular bit of canal and only three locks (hopefully). The downside is it is very very busy, especially in summer. There are a huge number of local liveaboard boats in all styles from historic Dutch barges down to floating wrecks. There are also a huge number of hire boats that almost all head into Bath, especially at the weekend. You would need 4 full days to do this trip. Day one is a long day to Bradford on Avon, a lovely historic village with lots of mooring space but even more boats using them, it is usually, but not always, possible to find a spot. Day two is a fairly long day into Bath but very very pretty with two aqueducts to cross and the canal cut into the side of the Avon valley. Better done away from the peak season if possible.

............Dave 

That's why I would choose the Oxford but what about the 5 locks at Seend, the 2 at Semington, 1 at Bradford and then the Bath flight itself which you could stay above if you wished?

I don't think they are long days. When we hired we started the Sunday at Devizes Wharf (having come up Caen Hill on Saturday) and were at Seend in time for Sunday lunch at the Barge Inn and turned and moored at Bradford-on-Avon in the evening although admittedly we had to go a mile or so back to find a spot to moor and even then we could only get one end in to the bank which is probably why it was available. That's extreme I know but most hirers boat harder and longer in a day than most boat owners I would say.

JP

Edited March 19, 2017 by Captain Pegg

[Alan Saunders]

My first hire boat trip, in 1976, was from Brummagem boats (Soho Loop, Birmingham - no longer hiring) to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Absolutely brilliant; the best of canal architecture and the joy and contrast of wildlife (e.g.Kingfisher) in green cuttings followed by rising in a lock to the traffic noise of a city. Actually, we did not make it to Stratford as we (two) were exhausted by an unusually hot summer. I suffered sunburn to the back of my knees on the return trip.

Later six/eight of us hired larger boats in the North/Midlands, once with the intention of traversing the Southern Oxford. At the junction the three boats in front of us turned left on to the Southern Oxford and we decided that we would rather pootle along rather than join long queues for locks so we turned right. Some of us (blokes) were happy to cruise from dawn to dusk (with stops at Pubs mid-day and evening) and others (particularly my Mother-in-Law) liked to visit the historic houses/places. We were not disappointed. Years later, we did 'do' the Southern Oxford in our own boat; endless fields and bends (it is a 'contour canal') with rare access to shops or pubs. Personally, I like the contrast between the true industrial heritage of the canals and the minor settlements that, historically, grew around them.

Generally, i would recommend a narrow canal like the Oxford. We were keen to moor our boat on the newly opened K&A (partly because it was the nearest navigable canal) but the wide locks do present a greater challenge than the leisurely narrow locks but less so now there are landing stages at most (all?) K&A locks. Of course, you will not be 'in a hurry' and MtB is right; it can take me 30 minutes to clear a K&A lock single handed with my pair of boats. As others have said, with a lock every mile, there is a good chance that you will pair up and find that many K&A locks fill/empty safely in five minutes. OTOH there are very few stretches of any UK canal where you can cruise at 3mph.

Whilst I am based on and love the K&A I recommend a narrow canal for the best and full historic experience. N.B. Moonboats (at Honeystreet) have three(?) very nice 'widebeam' boats (and excellent tearooms) but I believe the narrow canals will afford you a better first experience. Although we have many times boated from Great Bedwyn to Bristol, I cannot recommend a first trip from the bottom of the Caen Hill flight. In four days you will experience <5% of the 2,000 miles of British canals. Anyway, you may find it difficult to find a hire for just four days. Also, the first and last half days are taken up with handover whatever the length of hire.

I would like to see an itinerary that allows visitors to visit London's attractions (Buck House, Tower of London - one day) and the better sights of the Midlands etc. by boat.

Whatever or wherever you choose, in 28C (80F) or continuous drizzle, I am sure that you will enjoy your experience, it's a pity you cannot extend it to a full week or more. I look forward to your trip report that will better advise first-time visitors to our canals.

Alan

[Neil2]

7 hours ago, Athy said:

That's not how I remember it - good scenery and pleasant villages stick in the mind from our hire-boating holiday on the K&A That was 20 years ago, not long after it had reopened, and I assume that it's much improved since then in terms of lock facilities and so on. What don't you like about it? For me, its only drawback was that it had broad locks.

I wouldn't assume it's improved, the problem is in the last 20 years the cost of housing in the London - Bristol corridor has risen so much it's now off the radar for many folk on normal incomes. This has created a situation where the K&A is mostly populated by c/c liveaboards these days, many of which have no respect at all for the rules on overnight mooring.  As a result, anywhere near a road bridge is packed either side with residential boaters who need to be near the road to get to work.  At the same time CRT appear to be deliberately neglecting towpath maintenance and dredging, presumably to discourage the aforementioned practice.  This creates a double whammy for the leisure boater.  In any case from Reading to Newbury the canal/river is pretty uninspiring.  The rest of it is quite pleasant in parts and of course Caen Hill has to be on most boaters to do list.  But my lasting impression of the canal - from two recent excursions - is overgrown vegetation, miles and miles of down at heel boats, nowhere to moor, unfriendly locals. feral kids hanging around the locks,  and, someone at Hungerford nicked our folding trolley.  

I've met a lot of boaters who have moved off the canal in recent years, citing similar reasons.  I'd said it before, if all canals were like the K&A I simply wouldn't have a boat.  

[dmr]

3 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

That's why I would choose the Oxford but what about the 5 locks at Seend, the 2 at Semington, 1 at Bradford and then the Bath flight itself which you could stay above if you wished?

I don't think they are long days. When we hired we started the Sunday at Devizes Wharf (having come up Caen Hill on Saturday) and were at Seend in time for Sunday lunch at the Barge Inn and turned and moored at Bradford-on-Avon in the evening although admittedly we had to go a mile or so back to find a spot to moor and even then we could only get one end in to the bank which is probably why it was available. That's extreme I know but most hirers boat harder and longer in a day than most boat owners I would say.

JP

Oops  totally forgot about the Seend flight, I always see this as part of Caan Hill as we normally do both flights in a single go because I don't really like the pub at Sells green so we go straight to the Barge where surprisingly its normally possible to moor right outside. The bottom of Caan Hill to BoA is generally regarded as a good days cruise. My experience is that Devizes Wharf to the Barge at Seend is a long day so I don't think Devizes wharf to BoA is realistic in a single day if this is what you are saying. 

However we are full time liveaboards and rarely get going before 10 and I realise that some hirers like to do dawn to dusk. I know that hirers claim to do Cann Hill in two and a half hours but I really don't know how and as there is no real scope for overtaking you will be limited by the speed of any boats in front.

...............Dave