Narrowboaters enjoy life on the ocean wave

An intrepid crew of boaters is aiming to boldly go where no narrowboater has gone before - to the Isles of Scilly.

Pioneering 70ft narrow boat Ocean Princess will leave on Saturday 19th July to attempt the first ever voyage from Linslade, Bedfordshire, to the Isles of Scilly. Its outward-bound voyage will take it down the Grand Union Canal, down the Thames Estuary, around the White Cliffs of Dover, then along the English Channel to Lands End and the Scilly Isles.

On the way back, the brave crew will tackle the Bristol Channel before returning to the safer waters of the Kennet & Avon Canal, the freshwater River Thames and the Oxford Canal. In total, skipper James Griffin, his sons Philip and Robert, and navigator John Chapman will be cruising 615 nautical miles over sea and 268 miles on inland waterways, with no fewer than 255 locks.

James, who owns the long-established hire-fleet Wyvern Shipping on the Grand Union Cana, is undertaking the voyage to publicise the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway - the proposed new canal linking the Grand Union and River Great Ouse. The first entirely new canal for 100 years, it will allow river cruisers and broader boats to travel between the Midlands canals and the East Anglian rivers for the first time.

The route of the Ocean Princess

Explaining his planned route, James said: "We plan to travel down the Grand Union Canal to join the tidal Thames at Brentford, a distance of 50 miles and 76 locks. Early Tuesday morning, 22nd July, we aim to catch the tide down the Thames estuary to Queenborough on The Isle of Sheppey. After an overnight stay and refuelling, Ocean Princess will continue westerly down the English Channel passing Margate, Dover, Folkestone, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing, and Portsmouth before refuelling at Lymington in the Solent. She will then continue past Swanage, Weymouth, and Kingsbridge, arriving at Falmouth on the evening of 25th July at 1900 hours for an overnight stop and civic reception.

"After refuelling at Falmouth, Ocean Princess will pass Land’s End on her way to the Isles of Scilly for an overnight stay and refuelling, before heading eastwards up the Bristol Channel to Avonmouth and Bristol docks, having completed a total of 615 nautical miles. She will then rejoin the canal network at Bristol and travel via the Kennet & Avon Canal to the Thames at Reading - then up the Thames to Oxford, north along the South Oxford Canal to Braunston, and then back south along the Grand Union Canal to Linslade, a further 218 miles and 179 locks."

Unusually for a narrowboat, Ocean Princess has satellite navigation facilities, an echo sounder, and anchors fore and aft. Nonetheless, the sea passage will only take place subject to suitable weather and sea conditions.