Overnight stops

Using the excellent CanalPlan program it has been predicted that the trip will take us 16 days.
However this program is desinged in mind for narrowboats and barges that are pretty slow and have to wait for every lock and swing bridge on the route. With a kayak the journey could be done in a lot less time since we can carry the boats around these obstacles, but for the moment we shall be allowing 16 days to do this. This means that 15 overnights stops will need to be made.
So this trip will involve some camping!!! This will be done either at the canalside or riverside and with luck we could stay at the the odd boatyard and marina.

To let you know this is a rough guide for you where it's likely that we'll have to stop for the night. I have exact spots but they'll just get confusing for you.


This show where we could stop after each day:

Day 1: Stop at York and camp on the outskirts
Day 2: A small town called Beal on the River Aire
Day 3: Thorne (a sleepless night cos it's next to the M18 motorway)
Day 4: Either at Walkerith or Gainsborough on the River Trent
Day 5: Newark-on-Trent
Day 6: Nottingham (hopefully find a quiet spot to stay for the night)
Day 7: Barrow upon Soar or Sileby
Day 8: Just south of Leicester or further along at Wigston
Day 9: Foxton locks Country Park ( just before the huge collection of Foxton Locks Staircase)
Day 10: the small town of Crick or Welton Station Bridge, which is at the other end of the Crick tunnel
Day 11: at the south end of Blisworth Tunnel, next to the British Waterways Museum
Day 12: a few miles south of Milton Keynes or a bit further down at Leighton Buzzard.
Day 13: Either at Marsworth or just outside of Berkhamsted
Day 14: at Hemel Hempstead or at Hunton Bridge
Day 15: at Harefield or at Cowley Peachey Junction
Day 16: the Tower Bridge!!!

Well there's a rough guide for you. Like I mentioned before, it's highly likely that we'll reach London in less than 16 days but this is just a backup in case it does take longer.

The finish line is when we pass under the Tower Bridge ( thats the reason for the pic)
So if one day you're just passing over the Tower bridge and you see 2 small boats with some very happy teenagers in, you'll know who!!!!



You can find the CanalPlan program at http://www2.mihalis.net/canal/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?m=js;
So if you want to create your own little trip with it, try it, it's a good toy!


That's all for now. Got some more planning to do, oh and I need to find a job!!!



Kev

Details of the route

Ok to get things going on this website, lets have some details of this ahem, very sensible journey.

After much research the distance that we shall be paddling on this little trip is just over 341 miles, not so bad if you are sitting on a train or travelling by car but in a kayak that is quite a lot!

Owing to Sods' law, we cannot just sit in the boats all day without any interuption. Oh no. You see, in order for a waterway to travel up and down inclines, it must go through the ingenious system of locks. These are fascinating and clever machines, if that is what you can call them.

Now in the interests of safety which I fully agree with, kayakers are not allowed to use locks. The boats must either be left in the lock and held by ropes, or must be carried or dragged around, the technical term is portaging, and we have chosen to mainly portage the kayaks around the locks

Now portaging isn't too hard isn't it? Well an empty touring kayak may weigh at least 20kg, but think of that boat filled with equipment and vital supplies (like beer!). That's going to be pretty heavy and tiring, and thats just to get around one lock.

And guess how many locks we'll have to deal with? 184 of the buggers in total! Ah well a challenge is a challenge, and it's going to be a trip to remember.

There are also 4 tunnels along the route. Quite rightly saying so, British Waterways don't want unpowered craft using the tunnels on their network, and we will accept their rules and follow them. The kayaks will have to be taken around the tunnels and we'll join the canal again at the other side.

Oh aye and there's also 71 miles of tidal rivers to battle too! So a good tide table book would be very handy indeed!

The map that comes with this post shows the intended route of our little journey. The route is marked in yellow. Please take a look.

Well thats enough for now, more to come later!!

Kev

The site has just been created!!!

This is the first post of many hopefully!!
If you haven't guessed what this site is about then there is no hope for you my friend!!

The plan is for 2 teenagers (myself Kevin Alsey and Alex Grassick) who need their heads examined to embark on a small journey from one end of the country to the other, from Ripon in North Yorkshire to London, somewhere down south I think.
Now the method of transport is an unusual and relatively slow way of getting there. We have chosen to squeeze ourselves into tiny boats called kayaks and using the natural and environmentally friendly propulsion of paddles, we will paddle down to London!

Oh yes and to top it all off we are doing this for charity!! We are going to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and hope to raise about £1000. If we go over this we shall be thrilled!

The reason we have chosen the RNLI is quite simple. I am a volunteer crewmember on the lifeboat at Blyth and my friend Alex is hoping to join the lifeboat crew in Plymouth next year.
Since we both have a interest in the RNLI we decided we should raise some money for them too.

At the moment the trip is in the planning stage. A lot of work is being put into this to make sure it is a success but also to make sure it'll be damm good fun too!!

Well this concludes the first post of this blog, hopefully many more will follow soon!!

Kev