プレイストーとイフォールドのおすすめウォーキング＆ハイキングルート

good pub

Great towpath

Using the power of moving water to drive a mill wheel is an ancient invention of the human spirit of discovery, the origins of which can be traced back to times long past. Thanks to such a construction, human or animal muscle power could be easily replaced by the power of the natural elements through a watercourse - natural or artificially created - in order to grind grain into corn or press oil from fruit, for example. There are essentially two different ways of driving watermills: * Either the flowing water simply hits the blades of the water wheel from below to set it in motion; or * the water is guided above the wheel - usually through a so-called "mill channel" - and falls onto the blades; this type of construction is more efficient due to natural gravity.

The Wey and Arun Canal, finished in 1816, established a crucial link between the Wey Navigation near Guildford and the south coast via the River Arun. This canal played a pivotal role in the inland transportation network designed to ensure secure passage from London to Portsmouth, facilitating the transportation of goods to sustain the dockyards during the Napoleonic Wars. Despite its initial success in efficiently transporting a substantial volume of cargo, the advent of railways ultimately led to the formal closure of the canal in 1871.

bench here to relax

On this navigable stretch of the Wey and Arun Canal, Brewhurst Lock was restored in the 1990s and is in full working order.

Baldwin's Knob lock has been restored and was the first lock to have been refurbished on the disused Wey & Arun Canal. It opened in its current form in 1994 and originally in 1816.

The Drungewick Aqueduct carries the Wey and Arun Canal over the River Lox which feels like quite a unique experience as you walk alongside one waterway to look down over another. The canal itself fell into disrepair but the Wey and Arun Canal Trust is working on restoring it to a navigable waterway again.