Ash Lock

Today's Canal - Basingstoke

A long day! Not that it was planned to be that way but . . .  Objectively, we did not have enough time to reach the end of t he navigable part of the canal but we were not sure how far we might get.

We were away shortly before 8 o'clock. Soon after we crossed the modern aqueduct that crosses the wide A331 dual carriageway completed just over 25 years ago.

Ash Lock is on its own and there are no time constraints on its use so we were able to pass trough as soon as we arrived.

Queens Avenue Bridge is more ornate than any of the others.

The local canal society have recently been completing a long set of moorings which are due to be opened formally in the next couple of weeks, we were told. We also found from their recent newsletter that the project was delayed because of concerns from the local authority that the construction was disturbing some of the wildlife!

This house is unusual in that it can be fully seen from the canal. Planners elsewhere seem to have ensured that the green corridor is maintained. We also found that we could make much better speed than earlier - this remained until we reached Odiham, close to the end of the canal (but we are getting ahead of the story!)

What is this? Is is a displace redundant tank trap?

We had made such good progress so far that we re-calculated what we might achieve and, with a very early start to morrow, we might just be able make it to the end if we turned around immediately - and had a late evening meal today.

A sign promoting a campaign against local development in Winchfield has been set up on the canal bank. A Facebook page raises the fear of 5000 new homes in the village. On the other hand, a look at the neighbourhood development plan shows numbers perhaps only 1% - 2% of this!

There is at least some water coming in to the summit level!

Galleon Marine at Odiham has lots of small floating things for hire - we ran the gauntlet of many of them in the approach to the centre! They also have a few narrowboats for hire but, alas, do not sell diesel to passing boaters.

Just before the end of the canal is a lift bridge. The lifting part is mechanised but the barriers have to be operated by hand and there is not interlock to make sure that hey are in place before blocking the road to vehicles!

So, here we are - two o'clock at at the end of the navigable canal. A large winding hole allowed us to turn around but we were increasingly concerned that we might have again picked up some rubbish on the prop. We had certainly been going rather slowly since Odiham. We stopped at the moorings beside Odiham Castle to look down the weed hatch. In the end there was not a lot to slow us down but we found quite a bit of fishing line which provide very difficult to remove. We had to give up on the last bits.

While this was gong on, we each took a look at the castle but alas it is currently faced off so we could only look at it from a short distance away.

After setting off, Mike prepared our evening meal - at least all the components ready for a quick, finish once we had one as far back as we could manage before the dark prevented further progress

A large tent in a woodland - no-one around and nothing else visible!

A long stretch of bank on either side has had to be stabilised by inserting large ties to prevent collapse.

A number of war time pill boxes remain from he many that were constructed in case the country was invaded. In practice they would have done little to halt a determined army's progress but they could have delayed it in places.

There are three very low bridges. This was the lowest and the picture shows that there were just a few millimetres clearance at the lowest point! We could have removed the life ring but it was a useful marker for other high points and it would have been better to damage that rather than something much more expensive to fix. It was also protecting Andrew's GoPro camera - although it would have recorded any impact!

And so we continued, retracing our earlier steps with the light gradually fading. the cloud cover meany ghat it would get dark a bit sooner. We were determined at least to clear Ash Lock so that just one person could, if need be, set off in the morning. However, we made excellent progress on the section from Odiham and arrived at the lock around eight o'clock. Although there are no moorings anywhere near - and it was a bit too risky to try and go much further - so we spent the night on the lock landing below the lock. We were reasonably certain that this would not cause anyone a problem, so long as we were away very early. Our meal was quickly finished off in the oven and we collapsed for what remained of the day! Hence,. this blog was not published until the next day. But we were rather pleased that we made it to the end, even if it meant a very long day.

30.0 Miles - 2 Locks (same one but both up and down)