The Canal Boat Club

ROUTE 1 : PEWSEY & RETURN (7 Nights, 6.5 hours per day, 90 locks )

Starting from the small boating centre of Aldermaston Wharf, cruise west to the picturesque market town of Newbury. There are some nice pubs at the canalside village of Kintbury before arriving at Hungerford, stop off and visit the numerous antique shops and admire the charming canalscape. Then it’s on to Great Bedwyn and Crofton Pump Station, home to the world’s oldest working beam engine. Don’t miss the historic conservation village at Wootton Rivers on your
way to the traditional village of Pewsey with its beautiful thatched cottages.

ROUTE 2 : WINDSOR & RETURN (INC RIVER THAMES) (7 Nights, 5.5 hours per day, 42 locks)

A short cruise takes you to Reading, with its host of facilities where you join the Thames and cruise downstream through the rowing town of Henley, the charming town of Marlow, where Shelley and T.S. Eliot once lived, and Cookham, home to the Stanley Spencer art gallery. Moor up at Taplow for a visit to Cliveden House and, if your budget is up to it, at Bray, where you could enjoy a fine meal at either Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck or the Roux brothers’ Waterside Inn. Visit Eton College before arriving at the royal town of Windsor, famous for its castle, and nearby Legoland www.legoland.co.uk

ROUTE 3 : OXFORD & RETURN (INC RIVER THAMES) (7 Nights, 6 hours per day, 46 locks)

Cruise east to Reading, with its wide range of facilities and then join the River Thames upstream to Elizabethan Maledurham House, a magnificent Elizabethan building, complete with working corn mill.

Just after Goring, moor up for a visit to Beale Bird Park and then it’s on to the pretty market town of Abingdon via Wallingford.

The historic dreaming spires of Oxford now await you.

Don’t miss a visit to the fabulous Ashmolean Museum and Bodleian Library while you’re here.

ROUTE 4 : LECHLADE OR TEDDINGTON & RETURN (INC RIVER THAMES) (14 Nights, 8 hours per day, 70 locks)

Head east to join the Thames for an unforgettable cruise along this great river.

You’ll pass Windsor, famous for its castle and nearby Legoland, before arriving at Hampton Court Palace, home of kings.

Then return via Reading and cruise to Oxford and on through the peaceful Oxfordshire countryside to the Cotswold town of Lechlade

ROUTE 5 : BATH & RETURN (14 Nights, 6.5 hours per day, 176 locks)

Cruise almost the entire length of the beautiful Kennet and Avon Canal going west from Padworth via the picturesque market town of Newbury and then on to Hungerford.

The historic conservation village of Wootton Rivers is well worth a visit before you reach Devizes, with its amazing flight of locks at Caen Hill. Bradford-on-Avon is a pretty market town with a 14th century tithe barn, which lies a few miles from highlight of your cruise – the graceful Georgian city of Bath, which boasts a host of good restaurants and some great shopping.