Today being the bicentennial anniversary of the opening of the Wilts'n'Berks canal, I thought you might like a tour of the East Vale section, highlighting the various projects on the way.

Our section covers from Childrey Wharf in the west, as far as the Abingdon junction with the River Thames to the east. On this "tour" I will be going from west to east.

1. Childrey

Starting in the west then, the canal comes to us over the fields from Swindon and it's junctions with (in time) the Kennet and Avon to the south, and the Cotswold Canals in the north. Having meandered through some lovely rural countryside, it crosses New Road, which runs from Childrey to Challow Station. At present there is a flat road bridge, which will of course be replaced with an elegant curved or hump-backed bridge. We have not long started work on the passageway under the road, it currently looks like this:

but once the road bridge has been replaced with a humped one, there will be considerably more headroom.

Once under the bridge, you quickly reach Childrey Wharf, which was invisible below a sea of greenery just a couple of years ago. We painstakingly rebuilt the much-damaged wharf, here's Roy putting the finishing coping stone in place at the end of a very long day:

Then we had to dredge the channel back to full width:

and now it looks much more like this, which I am sure you will agree is a huge improvement: the grass has grown back really well, and we are very pleased with our progress.

(and no, of course the boats didn't cruise there - we had them brought in on low-loaders for some publicity photos - the water is so shallow that they are actually sitting on the bottom! But it shows what it will look like, in due course.)

2. King's Lift Bridge.

The next item of note is King's Lift Bridge, which can be found about a quarter of a mile to the east along the towpath from the Silver Lane crossing at West Challow. It was almost completely derelict when we started on it: as you can see, there was little more than just foundations and a few clues in the stonework:

but after five years of hard work, it's now up and operational - once more, we're very pleased with the way the foliage has regenerated.

3. East Challow - Road crossing.

After King's Lift Bridge, there is a short straight stretch up to the road at East Challow, where the canal is being prepared to go under the road once more. In order to avoid having to demolish the bungalow immediately to the west of the road, it was decided to put in a new lock and drop the canal by a couple of feet, running a tunnel underneath the A417, and continuing it underneath the pre-fab bungalows to the east of the road. At one point we were hoping to get compulsory purchase for them, as they were apparently coming to the end of their lifespans anyway, but this proved to be so difficult that we agreed with the council to continue the tunnel right underneath them all.

Firstly we had to dig out the tunnel: because of the buildings, it wasn't possible to dig a trench then roof it over - the aptly named "cut-and-cover" process - so we had to use proper boring equipment, which in itself meant several of our members having to attend training courses and be properly certificated. Once the tunnel itself was in place, we created the entrance-way, and you can just make out the series of lock gates which drop the level by nearly three feet:

Obviously there's nothing more to be seen for several hundred yards, as it's all underground. You can walk down the track between the bungalows and the factory, and be completely unaware of it!

At the eastern end we have constructed an attractive opening or portal, the design of which was based on an original stone portal which was discovered about a mile further west, at the Mably Road underground basin. Our portal was not intended to be a copy, but to be "in keeping", as it were: this is a photo taken a few months after completion, but there is nothing there to see now, as we have covered it up with foliage for protection, until such time as the Stockham stretch is fully in water again. Otherwise, the water within the tunnel section would become stagnant and may be dangerous to wildlife. So, sadly, for the time being this photo is all there is to be seen of this portal, looking back on the eastern end of the East Challow Tunnel.

4. Stockham Park.

Turning around and continuing east, we reach the Stockham section: at present very rural and pleasant, and mostly in water.

This section has proven to be very popular with local walkers and cyclists, and there is a lot of wildlife to be seen.

5. Mably Way Roundabout.

East of the Stockham section we reach the Denchworth Road crossing, at the well-known Mably Way roundabout. Rather less well-known is the original underground crossing which we are refurbishing. It is entered via an original, and rather lovely, stone-built portal which is on private land to the west of the roundabout, and not accessible (yet!) by the public.

This leads to a complex of underground cave-like canalways, which originally led onward to the west, and south into Wantage itself. The brickwork is in a remarkable state of preservation, which has turned what we had anticipated as being a major problem, into a very easy "quick fix": we simply had to block up the southern channel to prevent water seeping out into the original Wantage arm (which can still be seen as a sunken grassy channel running up behind Canal Court, and across Roman Way before petering out before Elizabeth Drive) and extend the western edge of the tunnel to meet up with our partially-cleared section, at the edge of the sports field.

Here is a lamp-lit view of the original basin, with the Wantage Arm clearly leading off to the right of the picture (we are looking in from the western end)

...and the main channel continuing to the left of the picture, under the roundabout and joining up with the Elms Farm section, which is not yet in water. We anticipate some very interesting navigation experiences, as boats travelling to the east will have to negotiate a tight turn around that pillar! Actually, it's not as tight as it looks, the photo is a little deceptive.

6. Elms Farm to Grove A338 Road Crossing.

After Elms Farm, we move to a very old feature of the canal, the aqueduct across the Letcombe Brook. This can be seen (just) if you walk along the track leading from the allotments up to the traffic light junction on the A338 leading north out of Wantage - where you turn left for Grove. The Brook is very narrow here, with stony banks, and the old stone-built aqueduct above it was in quite good condition:

All we had to do was replace the metal handrail on the towpath side, for safety, and temporarily position stop-planks at each end to retain the water until the sections on either side have been re-watered fully.

7. A338 crossing at Grove.

Moving up the track to the A338, the old Grove crossing has completely vanished, about the only sign that remains is the reference on the OS map to "Grove Crossing" and the fact that the farm opposite is called Bridge Farm. This is where the trams used to go over, and the canal used to go under! Once again, we are having to lose height in order to avoid disrupting the roads. This time we are replacing Grove Top Lock and Grove Bottom lock - which were formerly one each side of the road - with a single flight down on the Wantage side, and an innovative boat lift on the other side, to raise the boats back to the original level.

There will be a flight or staircase of locks on the Wantage side, with the water being back-pumped to a holding pound or small reservoir, sited on the current waste land behind the new Health Centre. Work has started on the locks, and they are already being tested: here we are standing at the level of A338 underpass, looking up towards the flight, with the new houses on the Elms Farm site on the left.

Continuing (invisibly) under the road, the canal will emerge on the far side, in the fields beyond the row of cottages to the right of the road (heading north). Originally it ran close up against the backs of these cottages, and the original towpath still exists as a footpath along the houses, right through their gardens! Legally, it is still walkable, although morally it's quite hard to bring yourself to walk so close to their back doors and windows. Luckily, that won't be necessary in future, as the canal will be at least 50 yards further over than it used to be.

Work is well under way with the boat lift, it still looks very bare and new, but you can see what an elegant arrangement it is: the circular pound receives boats emerging from the tunnel under the A338, and from there they are raised to slightly above the original level, to take into account the new reservoir to the north.

I believe the design was taken from a boat lift installed in Scotland a few years ago, so although it looks scarily space-age, it is proven technology. In the photo above you can see the A338 continuing northwards on the left of the picture, and the newly planted Grove Woodlands adjacent to the road.

Most of the installation is hidden from the road by the slope of the fields, which is almost a pity!

8. Steventon/Drayton: reservoir area.

Moving on towards Abingdon, the canal crosses a largely rural area, which is not creating any problems for us, until we reach the site of the new Reservoir, much talked about lately. This was going to require a massive diversion from our original line, to make the canal run round the outside of the new reservoir, so it has been agreed with the water board that we will instead go straight across it. As you can imagine, this has lead to some innovative solutions to deal with the varying levels which the reservoir will have.

We will join the reservoir at it's western edge, just below the level of East Hanney, using another boat lift, which will take boats up/down to whatever the height of the water is.

Here is the newly operational boat lift: at the time of taking this photo, the reservoir embankment was still being worked on, which is why it appears to lift the boats into nowhere!

There was some concern about the power required to operate it, so the structure is going to be clad in futuristic ceramic tiles, with solar panels on the upper and south-facing aspects, to generate most of the power to operate it. We were extremely pleased to be able to incorporate such an ecologically-sound operating system, and one which will also make it look a great deal prettier than it does here!

Having attained the height of the water, boats will then cruise across the reservoir:

and having reached the northern edge, will exit via a large lock, designed to allow boats through in groups. We have been in discussion about this with the water board, as there is a concern that a single boat might not be allowed through: this point has not yet been resolved, but we are optimistic that it will be agreed before the official opening. This is a view of the lock from the inside:

and here we are looking back towards the east, from outside the reservoir, at the impressively strong lock gates:

Care will need to be taken when locking out of the reservoir and heading west, as the weir that will be positioned immediately to one side of the lock gates can create quite a side-current:

One unsung benefit of combining the reservoir and the canal in this way is the reduction in flooding of local fields, which used to be a regular menace in this area.

9. Towards Abingdon.

Having safely passed the reservoir, the canal heads placidly across another very lovely rural part of Oxfordshire with no major features, or problems for restorers. This section is not currently accessible, as the towpaths have been lost, but the line of the canal has been protected and it will simply be re-dredged when we are ready to proceed.

Approaching Abingdon, then, work starts again as we had to create a crossing under the A34: unkindly, the builders did not leave a culvert for the canal as had originally been agreed, so we had to dig once again. This time there were no problems with the levels, so we just inserted a simple high arch:

Finally, we are approaching the spires and buildings of Abingdon town. The canal used to go right into the town from further north, but it has been built right over with houses, so we have created a new junction with the Thames, a mile or so lower than - that is, to the south of - the original junction. This means that our canal finishes in rural splendour, running through some very green and pleasant areas before joining the Thames at our newly opened Jubilee Junction:

This photo was taken last year, at the grand opening, you can see how freshly landscaped the area is! The Jubilee Junction was a major step forward for the restoration of this lovely scenic canal, representing as it did large-scale recognition of the work done, and the value of the work yet to be done: it also generated a lot of the funding for the other projects that you have just seen.

We are planning to add a statue to the Jubilee Junction - but we haven't yet decided who or what it should commemorate. Suggestions obviously include Robert Whitworth, the engineer who built the original canal back in the late 1790s, but that is by no means a foregone conclusion. If you have a suggestion as to what the statue could represent, or if you have enjoyed this tour and wish to let me know what you thought of it, do please e-mail me, I'd love to hear from you.

Finally, I hope that you have enjoyed this tour of the East Vale section of the canal.