Canal Boat Holiday Base Information - Base 62 on the Oxford Canal

Your holiday isn't tied to a specific route. You simply hire a boat for the time you choose, then explore the canals however you like. Our short-break, week, and two week routes are just ideas to help you plan your ideal canal holiday.

Short break routes (3 - 4 nights)

Cropredy and Return

36 miles • 36 locks • 18 hours

South on the Oxford Canal from base 62 this very rural route reaches the Cotswold village of Cropredy, noted for its annual Folk Festival. Alternatively turn at Fenny Compton and return (12 hours)

Welford and Return

52 miles • 28 locks • 22 hours

Travel to the canal village of Braunston then onto the Grand Union towards Leicester and the Welford Arm.

One week routes

Snarestone and Return

102 miles • 8 locks • 28 hours

An easy route for the first timer with only a few locks through rural England. Leaving the broad Grand Union Canal at the busy canal junction of Braunston, you turn up the North Oxford Canal to Rugby and onto the lock free Ashby Canal - a very quiet and rural canal.

Stoke Bruerne and Northampton

66 miles • 58 locks • 35 hours

Another pleasant and easy route cruising on the broad Grand Union Canal where the locks are 14 feet wide, allowing you to share the work with another boat. The start of this trip contains no locks until you get to Braunston Junction - a hive of activity. Cruising onwards you encounter more locks and turnings to Northampton before entering the 3,056 yards Blisworth Tunnel which opens out into the canal village of Stoke Bruerne with its Waterways Museum.

Oxford and Return

98 miles • 78 locks • 54 hours

Down the meandering Oxford canal which is one of the oldest in the country and follows the contours of the land, which makes you wonder whether you are getting anywhere. The only town on the way is Banbury, but there are some lovely villages mainly towards the bottom end, such as Thrupp, Lower Heyford and Shipton-on-Cherwell, with stone built houses, cosy pubs, ancient churches and village greens.

Warwickshire Ring

103 miles • 118 locks • 54 hours

Sometimes known as the Midlands Ring, this is a route of contrasts. Starting on the wide locks of the Grand Union, through various locks to the Hatton Flight, you can either divert up the North Stratford to the centre of Birmingham, or carry on up the Grand Union to rejoin near the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Heading out on the narrow canals to Fazeley, you return southwards past Coventry. Diversions into Coventry, Stratford, or up the Ashby should be considered. Don't forget to allow extra time for this.

Canal Boat Holiday Base Information - Base 62 on the Oxford Canal

About the location

Routes from this base

Short break routes (3 - 4 nights)

Cropredy and Return

Welford and Return

One week routes

Snarestone and Return

Stoke Bruerne and Northampton

Oxford and Return

Warwickshire Ring