Thought we would have another go at getting to the end of the navigable part of this canal only 4 miles further west. Not many narrowboats make it to the end of the canal, this is shown by the surprised smiles of towpath walkers we speak to.
I'm sure a few of the people we spoke to on this canal were members of the
Basingstoke Canal Society, the enthusiasm with which they welcomed us to their patch was really special.
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| Galleon Marine base. |
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| The only slow down sign we have seen on the whole canal. |
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| Trip boat. |
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| Electric lift bridge |
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| Remains of Odiham castle. |
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| End of navigable canal |
We arrived at the end with no fanfare just a lovely deep wide winding hole to turn FL and face back the way we had come.
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| Dot & Gordon wind EHC |
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| The Mill House |
We had an end of navigable canal celebratory lunch at the
Mill House in Odiham, a place thirty years ago we were guests of the then owners Tony & Tracey on it's opening night, it was called Blubeckers back then.
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| Greywall Tunnel |
Since a section of the roof collapsed in 1932 the tunnel hasn't been open to powered craft, the tunnel is now an SSSI since a colony of Natterer's bats among others were found to of taken up residency. In fact, the whole of the Basingstoke is an SSSI apart from the bit through Woking.
The 5 miles of isolated canal the other end reaches to it's terminus and namesake Basingstoke.
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| Entrance is now sealed |
At dusk we all walked down to the tunnel hoping to see the bats streaming out of the tunnel entrance, tonight they must of used the portal at the other end. We consoled ourselves with an ale and cups of tea in the nearby Fox & Goose.
A few bats were spotted in torch lights on the walk back to the boats.
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