Lechlade

14 nights

Hours cruising each way to:
Lechlade: 58 hrs*
126 miles, 74 locks, 2 aqueducts, 2 tunnels.

*These are approximate hrs and do not account for possible delays.

Travel north along the Ouzel Valley though the parks of Milton Keynes and over the Aqueducts at Wolverton and Cosgrove and then on to the picturesque Northamptonshire village of Stoke Bruerne. Take your boat up through the flight of seven locks and on through the nearly two mile long Blisworth Tunnel and on to Gayton Junction.

Continue on through Northamptonshire and its attractive stone villages to Weedon, reputed to be the centre of England. Bear left at Norton Junction, then through the Braunston Tunnel and locks to Braunston Junction where the Oxford to Coventry Canal crosses the London to Birmingham Canal.

Braunston village grew up around the canal and became well known for the building of wooden narrowboats. After turning left at Braunston, continue on to Napton Junction, where you bear left and on to the meandering South Oxford Canal with its narrow locks.

Continue on through the beautiful historic village or Cropredy, then on to Banbury, where the canal runs adjacent to the new shopping centre. After Banbury, continue on through the villages of Aynho and Thrupp, then turn right on to Dukes Cut, which takes you to the Thames.

The river here meanders to the extreme, ending up on the southern edge of the Cotswolds at Lechlade with its pubs and antique shops.

The River Thames is controlled by the Environment Agency and therefore the Canal & River Trust Licence is not valid; a visitor licence for the River Thames can be purchased at Eynsham lock.

Hours cruising each way to:
Lechlade: 58 hrs*
126 miles, 74 locks, 2 aqueducts, 2 tunnels.

*These are approximate hrs and do not account for possible delays.