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This is one of the latest offerings on the cruising guides
market, and this company’s first in book form. It covers the cruising ring
of the Thames, Oxford Canal and Grand Union connecting London, Oxford and
Braunston.
The format is squarer than A4, but gives a bigger page-size
than most other guides. Its scale is smaller than the 2” to 1 mile of
Nicholson’s and a number of other guides, but the maps are sufficiently
well presented in full colour to overcome any potential handicap this might
provide. Detail is not sacrificed, and a wide swathe of territory either side
of the waterway is mapped. To my view, the compensating advantage of having a
lot of waterway on each full-page spread makes the smaller scale well
worthwhile. Indeed in the closing pages of the book one gets the whole London
Ring on a double-page spread.
The supporting information is excellent. While the
background information may be less “chatty” than, for example, in the
Pearson guides, the factual information one needs for cruising is all there,
some of it in very useful tables of facilities available at the different
boatyards on the route. Some people might find the print of this information a
bit small for their comfort.
Checking on the sections I know well, I have not found any
errors, which is more than I could say for several other well-known guides.
GEO projects have been building themselves an
excellent reputation for a few years with their sheet maps of the waterways. I
have long been an enthusiast for their one-sheet map of the whole BCN in full
detail and colour, which fulfilled a long-felt lack. I have regretted that
until now they have only published their material as sheet maps, which are fine
for consulting in the cabin but highly impractical on deck, especially in wind
or rain. I very much hope that their first venture into a spiral-bound volume
marks a change of policy. The combination of book format with their
already-established standards of accuracy and clarity is most welcome. If they
develop along these lines, they could seize the top of the market.
Review by Mike Stevens, first published
in Excalibur, Summer 1999 |
