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