Rowed Trip expedition update from Oxford, en route to London; preparing to row across the English Channel (La Manche)

Now nearly two months into the epic, self-propelled journey from the northern tip of Scotland to Syria, adventurer Colin Angus e-mails en route about his travels by oar and pedal power with his wife, Julie, in another Rowed Trip expedition update.

“We launched our rowboats in the Oxford Canal, a man-made waterway traversing Oxfordshire. These waterways were created several hundred years ago, and now the banks have matured with a growth of willows, hawthorn, and bulrushes. We paddled gently past small fields enclosed by tidy hedgerows and villages of stone and brick.

“The canals were surprisingly quiet, and most of the time Julie and I were by ourselves as we paddled through one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The traffic that we did encounter on occasion were invariably the narrow canal barges, brightly painted and usually skippered by couples enjoying the English countryside from their floating R.V.s.

“The canals have no currents and changes in elevation are managed with locks: a set of aquatic gates where the water level can be lowered or raised to move a boat to a different level. These locks are hundreds of years old, and it is up to the boaters to operate the machinery. For Julie and me it was exciting to crank the old levers and watch thousands of gallons of water swirling and churning around our boats. Within minutes our vessels would be transferred to a different height and we would continue on our way.

“Eventually, the rural charm of the Oxford Canal came to an end and we emerged at the mighty Thames River at the city of Oxford. We are currently following the Thames towards London and will soon reach the North Sea. –Colin, 4/30/08″

[Editor's note: Stay tuned for the next forthnightly update, when we should hear much more about Colin and Julie's attempts to cross the English Channel (or La Manche, if you prefer the French).]

Update: Here’s an excerpt from Julie in London, from their latest monthly e-newsletter, dated May 4:

“Now we’re preparing for our crossing of the English Channel. We hope to row across the Channel but that depends on whether we’re able to get an appropriate weather window and coordinate the logistics for the crossing. It’s the busiest shipping area in the world and crossings by unconventional crafts are highly regulated, requiring appropriate approvals and an escort boat. By our next monthly newsletter we’ll be well into our travels through mainland Europe and may already be on the Danube River in Austria. – Julie”

— Andrew, Sr. Producer, Los Angeles Times Travel

[Photos: Colin and Julie Angus / Rowed Trip Expedition]

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 8:00 am by Andrew and is filed under News, Tips & Advice, Outdoors & Adventure, Rowed Trip, Travel Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.