This restored canal in West Sussex runs through beautiful countryside, from near Billinghurst, through Loxwood, and up towards the Surrey border. There are landing stages and various access points. Ideal for paddlers who enjoy quiet waterways in a rural location – a perfect change of scenery for our winter SUP Safari!

Completed in 1816 The Wey & Arun Canal linked the Thames to the English Channel by joining the River Wey Navigation at Shalford to the River Arun Navigation at Newbridge near Pulborough, providing a direct route for boats from London.

With the development of the railways the canal became uneconomic and was formally abandoned in 1871. 

In the 1970’s, the Wey & Arun Trust formed, aiming to restore the canal which runs through 23 miles of the most beautiful Surrey and Sussex countryside.  Since then the trust has worked hard to restore as much of the canal as possible and they welcome paddlers to enjoy a number of navigable sections. PaddleUK members can use the section at Loxwood without charge. For others, day licences cost £5 or £15 annual licences are also available. You can find out more about the trust and where you can paddle on the canal here.

One chilly February morning 8 met at Loxwood Canal Centre. Ed paced up & down to keep warm and get some fast paddling in whilst the rest of us got ready.
We looked around the Canal Trust visitor Centre & shop, using their facilities before heading off downstream into a strong, biting breeze at times. Launching by the Canal Centre we could already see Brewhurst lock just a short distance away.

Below the lock, was a lovely quiet stretch of rural canal winding gently between woodlands and fields with trees lining the banks and amazingly no background traffic noise, a rare thing in the south of England.

Enjoying a slow social paddle with much chat, we reached another amusingly named, easily portaged lock. Helping each other portage the locks and Tony used his self designed, home made SUP trolley with great effect. The water was very brown, but this was silt & organic matter compounded by lack of flow, rather than dirt or pollution.

We turned where the canal was closed for maintenance at Drungswick slipway & retraced our strokes – picking up our last paddler who’d arrived a little late – passing our start point and continuing over Loxwood lock. There is a “milestone” every half mile, counting the distance from the River Wey and to the River Arun. 

We’d planned to paddle the entire restored section up to Southland lock however seeing the water level was very low, leaving quite a tall drop in from the pontoons to re-enter above Devil’s Hole lock the group made a decision to turn and head back to the Onslow Arms early for a leisurely deflation in sunshine that had finally appeared before enjoying a delicious pub lunch.