basingstoke canal · 50 February 2019 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk 8-PAGE PUll-OUT Basingstoke Canal 7 miles / no locks brookwood ash 7 miles / 17 locks 5 station at the foot of the

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat February 2019 47

You will need plenty of careful planning to tackle this 31-mile route but it’s worth the effort to discover a beautiful and interesting waterway

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE WATERWAYS AROUND THE UkEasy-to-follow map • information for boaters • ten top pubs guide

CRUISE GUIDE

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WORDS anD pictuReS Derek pratt

basingstoke canal

canalboat.co.uk48 February 2019 Canal Boat

8-PAGE PUll-OUTBasingstoke Canal

Station Station Road, West Byfleet. 01932 336353. five mins south from Lock 3 and

left. Large modernised town pub with real ale, food and garden

Victoria Woodham Lane, Woodham. 01932 345365. five mins north from Lock 3.

Local pub with real ale, lunchtime food and garden

Bridge Barn Woking. 0870 197 7276. at arthur’s Bridge. 16th century farm greatly

extended, with real ale, food (part of Beefeater chain), garden, moorings

rowbarge St John’s Road, St John’s. 01483 761618. two mins south from Woodend

Bridge and right. Family-friendly modernised pub with real ale, food, children’s play area and garden

Swan ash Vale. 01252 325212. By Heath Vale Bridge. chef & Brewer

modernised traditional pub with real ale, food, garden

Fox & Hounds church crookham. 01252 663686. canalside near coxheath

Road Bridge. Refurbished pub with real ale, home-made food, canalside garden and live music on Friday evenings

Barley Mow Winchfield. 01252 617490. By Barley Mow Bridge. Modernised

family-friendly pub, real ale, food, board games, garden

Waterwitch Odiham. 01256 702778. By colt Hill Bridge. chef & Brewer chain pub

with emphasis on food. Real ale and garden

Mill House Hook Road, north Warnborough. 01256 702953. Five mins north of

Swan Bridge. 17th century watermill with restaurant, real ale, garden

Fox & Goose The Street, Greywell. 01256 702062. 2 mins from tunnel, up path

into village. 16th century inn with real ale, food and garden.

Details are likely to change: you are advised to phone to be sure

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Canal Boat’s pick of great pubs on the Basingstoke Canal

woodhamJourney Planner Follow the route with our map showing distances, locks and pubs

Distances/locks between pins

Direction of locks

Tunnel

Waterway junction

Our top ten pubs see panel to weybridge

to guildford

King John’s Castle dates back to 1207, and reputedly King John rode from there to Runnymede to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. The castle, which took seven years to complete, had a two-storey stone keep and a square moat. Today the ruins are very attractive and well worth a visit.

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kING JOHN’S CaStLe

MUSt See

The Basingstoke Canal is a lovely wooded waterway for most of its 31 miles. It requires a bit of effort and planning to reach it, and you may

need to time your journey to avoid the canal running short of water (see boaters notes), but it’s well worth it because once you are there you will enjoy a beautiful and interesting waterway.

The canal opened in 1794, linking the town of Basingstoke to the River Wey Navigation. There were plans to link up with other waterways to extend the navigation to the south coast, but these did not materialise. It was never a huge commercial success but for many years it did carry cargoes including coal, brick and agricultural produce to London.


to weybridge

CRUISE GUIDE

4 miles / 5 locks4 miles / 6 locks

brookwoodwoking

The last regular commercial cargo was timber to Woking, but the trade ceased around 1949 after which the canal began to decay and became unusable. In 1966 the Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society (now renamed to the Basingstoke Canal Society) was formed to restore the canal back to navigation. Hampshire County Council

followed by their neighbour in Surrey eventually took over the ownership of the waterway in 1976. Much of the restoration was achieved by volunteer labour, and the canal eventually reopened in 1991. It is now administered by the Basingstoke Canal Authority on behalf of the two county councils.

The canal has an inauspicious start

beneath the graffiti besmirched concrete pillars of the elevated M25 motorway and a busy railway towering over the River Wey Navigation. Don’t be put off, for as soon as you leave the junction behind you begin to tackle the six Woodham Locks which are fringed by woods and greenery. There are lines of moored houseboats, and a pumping

Climbing the flight of 14 locks at Deepcut

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7 miles / no locks

brookwood ash7 miles / 17 locks 5

station at the foot of the locks (built by the Canal Society to improve the canal’s water supplies) helps maintain levels. West Byfleet Station and shops are accessible from Lock 3.

Woking is the only large town you will encounter on the entire route. At present there are some big building developments in the town itself, but these do not intrude too much on the canalside. Be sure to visit the waterside Lightbox museum and gallery (see

inset). Also look out for Bedser Bridge with life-size statues of the cricketing Bedser twins, Alec and Eric, who lived in the town. Public trip boat Kitty now operates from the Town Wharf.

There is a large pub with restaurant at Arthur’s Bridge, about half a mile from Woking’s town centre. Five locks on the St John’s flight soon follow, then there are good moorings with nearby shops and pubs at Kiln Bridge at the top of the locks. The canal skirts the back gardens of Sheerwater

Attractive tree-lined canal at Woodham locks


The Lightbox museum and gallery is situated by Woking’s Town Wharf. There are galleries of modern art and sculpture, and displays of local history including Woking’s Story, plus a cafe and gift shop. Closed Mondays.

tHe LIGHtBOxMUSeUM

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7 miles / 1 lockfleet

Hermitage Woods has housing on one side and woodland concealing a busy railway line on the other, with the handy Brookwood Station close to the canal above the three Brookwood Locks. A gate from the station leads to Brookwood Cemetery which was established in the mid-19th century following the deaths of thousands of Londoners from cholera at a time when burial space in the capital was already running out. The cemetery had its own station and sidings for

St John’s locks, another wooded and rural-looking flight on the outskirts of Woking

Flashback to the 1970s: volunteers begin restoration of Deepcut locks

Walkers enjoy the towpath, close to where the canal widens out to form Mytchett lake


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5 miles / no locks

fleet winchfield

Basingstoke Canal

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funeral trains arriving from the London Necropolis Railway station at Waterloo. Brookwood Cemetery is one of the largest burial places in Europe with a quarter of a million permanent residents.

The railway now runs parallel to the canal all the way to Deepcut where there are 14 locks. Pirbright Army Camp and the Bisley shooting ranges are just to the north and sounds of gunfire can at times persist as you proceed up this beautiful flight. The locks are situated in mature woodland throughout and the scenery gets better as you reach the top of the flight. Above the top lock the navigation enters the wooded Deepcut Cutting which gave this locality its name.

At Frimley Green the canal crosses the railway on an aqueduct and turns to the south; soon afterwards comes the Basingstoke Canal’s Visitor Centre at Mytchett (see inset) with moorings and summer boat trips.

The canal continues southwards alongside Mytchett Lake and on passing through woods, heathland and by

residential gardens. At Ash Vale the route bends back to the west, crosses an embankment and a modern aqueduct over a main road to reach Ash Lock where there is a canal depot.

The lock marks the beginning of a 15-mile summit pound that takes the

canal to its present terminus at Greywell Tunnel. This is very much a military area and there are three military museums near the canal soon after Ash Lock. Continuing towards Fleet the canal passes through more woodlands, some with nature reserves. At one point

Canal Visitor Centre, Mytchett, is a good place to start for those exploring the canal by car, bike or on foot. There is free parking and information about the canal and easy access to the towpath, plus a café, picnic site, public trip boat and small boat hire – including canoes, pedalos and rowing boats, a simple camp site and even a yurt for hire.

CaNaL VISItOr CeNtre

Approaching Deepcut Bottom lock. Below: a modern aqueduct spans the A331 main road near Ash

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greywell4 miles / no locks 10

Farnborough Airfield, which stages the Farnborough Air Show, is close to the canal.

Pondtail Bridge, at the approach to Fleet, has a useful supermarket close to the canal. There are more shops in the centre of Fleet with moorings near Reading Road Bridge. Boaters and walkers should be aware that the bridge has only around 5ft 9in headroom (see boaters notes). The Fox & Hounds, with

food and a garden, can be found by the canal a short distance west of Reading Road Bridge. Occasionally, the John Pinkerton II trip boat does public return cruises from this location.

Fleet is left behind as the canal reaches Crookham Village, which has a swing bridge and nice pubs in the village. The canal is now completely rural and will stay that way for almost the entire remaining journey. After Double Bridge is the start of a two mile loop to the north visiting Dogmersfield and Winchfield villages before returning to its westerly course. There are good pubs in each village.

Winchfield Wharf is one of the main stopping places for the John Pinkerton II trip boat which is based at Colt Hill, Odiham. No roads or railway intrude on this idyllic two mile section between Winchfield and Colt Hill Wharf, home of Galleon Marina. Here you can hire a narrowboat, a canoe or a kayak for the day from Galleon’s boatyard.

Colt Hill is also the home for the John

Pinkerton II which is owned by the Basingstoke Canal Society, licensed to carry 50 passengers and is crewed by trained volunteers with all proceeds going towards future maintenance of the canal. Colt Hill also has a popular pub near the bridge. More pubs and shopping can be found in Odiham village which is a pleasant half mile walk from Colt Hill.

In the next mile the canal passes through open farmland to North

The canal runs along a hillside at Ash Vale

Trip-boats in operation at their base at Colt Hill

Canal wharf and crane by Ash lock


WaterWaySFaCtFILe

BoaTyaRd SeRViCeS

canal centre, Mytchett 01252 370073

Galleon, Odiham 01256 703691

try also these nearby on the river Wey: Weybridge Marina 01932 847453

tLc Byfleet 01932 355311

pyrford Marina 01932 340739

BOateRS’ nOteS Visiting craft will need a Basingstoke canal visitor licence. Boaters will also need to book passages through the flights of locks (except ash Lock), which (to conserve the limited water supplies) are only open certain days each week and are sealed up with ashes to prevent leakage outside of operational hours. contact the canal centre on 01252 370073. There are three very low bridges on the canal: Wharf Bridge, aldershot (approx 5ft 10in, lowest on towpath side), pondtail Bridge near Fleet (around 6ft) and Reading Road South Bridge (5ft 9in). although the water supply has improved with the construction of pumping systems at Woodham and St John’s, the canal can still run short of water in summer, resulting in closure of some lock flights. planning your visit eariler in the year is likely to reduce the chance of closure.

chandlery

Gas

pump-out

Repairs Slipway

Holiday hire Moorings

Diesel elsan disposal

CRUISE GUIDE 8-PAGE PUll-OUTBasingstoke Canal

Warnborough where there is a mechanised lift bridge that requires a key. Soon after the bridge you will see the remains of Odiham Castle, also known as King John’s Castle (see inset), which are worth a visit.

It is just a short distance from Odiham Castle to the mouth of Greywell Tunnel where the navigable Basingstoke Canal comes to an end. The 1,230-yard tunnel had no towpath so boatmen would have had to ‘leg’ through. The last commercial boat passed through in 1914 and a section of roof collapsed in 1932. The tunnel has remained closed ever since, and is today home to a large colony of bats. This would be an issue if there were any proposals to reopen it, but in any case much of the final stretch of canal beyond, running into Basingstoke, has been obliterated by infilling and road building. So visit Greywell village, with its handy pub, before turning round and returning along the 31 rural miles to the River Wey.

Barley Mow Bridge on the canal’s summit level near Odiham

The collapsed Greywell Tunnel cuts off the final few miles

Canal unnavigable beyond Greywell

Greywell Tunnel (blocked)

Mytchett Lake

Woodham Locks

St JohnsLocks

BrookwoodLocks

DeepcutLocks

Ash Lock

Woking

Aldershot

Odiham

Farnborough

West Byfleet

Fleet

Basingstoke

To Weybridge

To Guildford and Godalming

River Wey NavigationWoodham Junction

Frimley

Ash

WinchfieldNorthWarnborough

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basingstoke canal · 50 February 2019 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk 8-PAGE PUll-OUT Basingstoke Canal 7 miles / no locks brookwood ash 7 miles / 17 locks 5 station at the foot of the