Breezin to Braunston

Starting off from Melo Velo Cafe in Leisure Lakes Bikes Daventry, a chance for a once over of your bike (if needed) and a coffee before heading off along the tarmac cycleway for a gentle 13 mile ride in rural Northants to Braunston Marina before the return loop to Melo Velo for more coffee & chat. The route is slightly undulating with a bit of a climb up Churchill Road on the way out & a steady climb on the return All bikes welcome. Braunston lies at the junction of the Grand Union Canal and the Oxford Canal in a truly rural setting on the border of Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. The village, on the hill above the canal, thrived for over 150 years on the canal trade - carrying goods from the Midlands to London. Now it is a centre for leisure activities and boasts by far and away the busiest stretch of canal anywhere in the country. On the towpath near the Marina is "The Stop House" where, in the old days, tolls were collected from the passing boats. The village itself is on a ridge above the canal where All Saints' Church dominates the countryside for miles around. Built in 1849, it is the third church on the site and the Norman font still survives from the first.