Cruise in the peaceful surroundings of the Basingstoke Canal at Woking while enjoying a cream tea
Booking closes at 2pm the day previous to travel. Please specify if gluten-free scones required when you book (in additional comments)
Cream tea packs include 1 plain scone, 1 fruit scone, clotted cream , jam and tea.
Standard trips without cream tea also available at 11am and 1pm.
Enjoy the exceptional local flora and fauna while taking a trip through Woking’s history. The usual trip for Kitty is east from the Town Wharf. Immediately on the right is the award-winning Lightbox Art Gallery and Museum, then we pass under the new pedestrian/cycle turnover bridge. As we head out of town Horsell Common (itself partly an SSSI) is to our left. On the right we pass the site of the old Spantons Timber Wharf, then past the old gas works winding hole on the left; the Woking gas works were on the right. At Monument Bridge we can see the base of an old crane, before heading past Britannia Wharf on the left.
Shortly after passing under Monument Bridge is the start of the Woodham Hall Estate dating from the 1930s, with a WWII V1 flying bomb crater next to the canal. On the right the mid-1940’s Sheerwater Estate comes into view, built on the site of Surrey’s largest freshwater lake – now drained. We then turn around and retrace our journey, along this quasi-urban stretch of the canal.
The canal is an SSSI, and not only serves as a local recreational amenity but is also a notable wildlife habitat. The alkaline water from the chalk springs at the western end of the canal mix with the acidic water as the canal passes through the Surrey heathlands, giving rise to one of the largest varieties of aquatic plants and invertebrates in the United Kingdom. As many as 25 of Britain’s 39 species of dragonflies and damselflies inhabit the canal.
You may be fortunate to see a kingfisher that is considered to be a lucky bird. You can also see herons swans, ducks, geese, moorhens (often with young) and various local floras.