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College
Cruisers are the long-established
narrowboat holiday hire fleet based right in the centre of the romantic City of
Oxford. We are therefore a perfect base to visit the city of Oxford and
explore further a field onto the picturesque Oxford Canal and experience
the delights of Oxfordshire. Lots of visitors
come to Oxfordshire to experience the urban delights of Oxford, with
it's colleges or to visit Blenheim Palace. Oxfordshire also has
delightful countryside to offer with outstanding pretty villages dotted
along the banks of the Oxford Canal.
Here's a few
details of what you can see on your narrow boat holiday hire around the
Oxford Canal:- |
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Blenheim Palace
Just a few miles north of the
city of Oxford is the grand Blenheim Palace. |
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Uffington White Horse
Carved into the chalk hillside
the mysterious White Horse can be seen above the village of Uffington. |
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Wayland's Smithy
Just a short distance from the
White Horse is the Wayland's Smithy famous for it's chambered tomb. |
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Enjoy
the Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal starts by the
River Thames in Oxford and runs for 77 miles, mainly through quiet
rolling countryside.
From world famous Oxford, founded
nearly a thousand years ago and with its many University Colleges, the
canal heads north through pleasant pastures, through the old canal
village of Thrupp and passing close to the magnificent Blenheim palace,
Winston Churchill's birthplace. The countryside becomes more isolated
with rolling hills around the old village of Lower Heyford, neighbouring
Upper Heyford had a large USAF base. Banbury is an interesting medieval
market town with many fine old pubs
Napton Locks
Braunston is an old canal town
well worth a visit. The section up past Rugby was straightened in the
nineteenth century, almost halving the length of the original winding
route. You can still see the remains from the straightened out loops and
the entrance to the old Newbold Tunnel is near the churchyard. At right
angles with the old tunnel is the "new tunnel" and is of fairly generous
dimensions, having a towpath on both sides. |
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Ladder Bridge
Built to an ancient design the
single wooden beam structure carries a private footpath and has
developed a considerable sag over the years. Wooden bridges are fairly
rare on the canals but were cheaper to construct than masonry or metal
bridges. |
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Aynho Weir Lock
The unusual lozenge shaped Aynho Weir lock,
south of Banbury. Under the bridge on the left hand side you can just
see where the River Cherwell emerges to cross the canal at a right
angle. It exits over a weir on the right. Canals were often built along
river valleys since they offer fairly flat routes. However they usually
take an entirely separate course to reduce the damage and disruption to
the canal if the river floods. Level river crossings like this are quite
rare on the canal system. |
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