Boat Trip 2023

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Shopping

Andy / Jenny / Michaela / Robert will pick up agreed groceries for the first two days or so at Tesco Extra, Banbury, OX16 1LX.

Meetup

13:00 at The King's Head, Napton-on-the-Hill, CV47 8NG. This is ~300 metres from the boat yard.

Boat yard

We should arrive by 14:00 for a hopeful 14:30 handover.

Napton Narrowboats, Napton Marina, Stockton, Southam, Warwickshire, CV47 8HX, 01926 813644.

Boat

Josephine 8F2B

"Unique 8-10 berth boat with 2 King Size doubles & 4 Sleeping Cabins with 2 Full Bathrooms"

Layout

elite 8f2b layout.png

Narrowboating Info=

The marina would like us to be familiar with these in advance:

This is also pretty good:

Planned route and schedule for the trip

Rough idea is: Napton Marina (52.2579,-1.3196) to Calthorpe Winding Hole (52.0546,-1.3252) and return.

Overall statistics of the route itself

Total distance is 45.63 miles and 44 locks . There are 4 moveable bridges of which 2 are usually left open.

This is made up of 45.63 miles of narrow canals; 44 narrow locks. This will take 25 hours, 27 minutes. You have asked for it to be done in 3 days, each of which will be 6 hours and 9 minutes.

Some guesses as to where we would like to start / end each day

If the unlikely event that we really need to push it, sun rise and sun set will be the limit of when we can drive the boat. They're at approximately 05:00 BST and 21:00 BST respectively.

Mon 22nd May

Suggested stop: Sherne Hill Bridge No. 135 (guide book page 164)
Suggested pubs: The Wharf Inn, CV47 2FE, 01295 770332. At Fenny Compton Wharf bridge 136 guide book page 164.
Stats: 11.05 miles and 9 locks and will take 5 hours 41 minutes.

This is a longer first day than I'd like, especially if we don't get the boat promptly at 2.30pm. But if we stop before the locks it's less than an hour of travelling, and once we're past the locks there's no settlements until Fenny Compton. If we can't make it we'll have to stop wherever we get to and forego the pub.

Tue 23rd May

Suggested start: Sherne Hill Bridge No. 135 (guide book page 164)
Suggested stop: Sovereign Wharf (52.0657,-1.3361) between bridge 163 and bridge 164 (guide book page 161)
Suggested pubs: Ye Olde Reindeer Inn or Ye Olde Auctioneer (seriously). Both on Parsons Street, Banbury, OX16 5NA. Lots of other choice in Banbury.
Stats: 10.79 miles and 12 locks and will take 6 hours 27 minutes.

There's a retail park with Tesco Extra, KFC etc 0.4 miles from Southam Road Footbridge No 161.

Wed 24th May

Suggested start: Sovereign Wharf (52.0657,-1.3361) between bridge 163 and bridge 164 (guide book page 161)
Suggested stop: Fenny Compton Marina (guide book page 164)
Suggested pubs: We can go back to the Wharf Inn that we went to before (0.36 miles walk north along canal), or walk 1 to 1½ miles in to Fenny Compton to try The Merrie Lion, CV47 2YH, 01295 771134.
Stats: 12.13 miles and 14 locks and will take 7 hours 23 minutes.

We need to go on further to the Calthorpe Winding Hole (52.0546,-1.3252) and then turn around, but Banbury is our best shopping place so we'll probably want to moor up again somewhere near the town and do that on the way back through. There seems to be a fairly large Morrisons at OX16 5AQ which is very near Tramway Road Bridge 168 just after we have turned at the winding hole.

There's also a retail park with Tesco Extra, KFC etc 0.4 miles from Southam Road Footbridge No 161.

Thu 25th May

Suggested start: Fenny Compton Marina (guide book page 164)
Suggested stop: The Folly Public House, after Folly Bridge no 113 (guide book page 167)
Suggested pubs: The Folly which is right there, or a 1.3 mile walk to The Kings Head, CV47 8NG (closes 10pm, food served until 9pm).
Stats: 9.82 miles and 9 locks and will take 5 hours 11 minutes.

Fri 26th May

Suggested start: The Folly Public House, after Folly Bridge no 113 (guide book page 167)
Stop: Napton Marina (just off the top of guide book page 167)
Suggested pubs: N/A
Stats: 1.85 miles and 0 locks and will take 45 minutes.

We need to be back at the marina for 9.00am and cleared off the boat by 9.30am.

Stoppages

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices (nothing relevant for Oxford Canal as of 2023-05-15)