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About
Gallery
Parking
Poo bins?
Self-guided walk
About
Known as “London’s lost route to the sea”, the Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, 18.5 mile (30km) canal running southwards from the River Wey at Shalford in Surrey to the River Arun at Pallingham in West Sussex.
The first scheme to link the two rivers was proposed in 1641 and a bill was submitted to Parliament, however it was dropped at committee stage. The idea was resurrected in the 1800s, partly due to the Napoleonic Wars – with Britain at war with France, the usual cargo shipping route from London to Portsmouth, which went around the coast, was at risk of attack and an inland route was needed. Construction began in 1813, although the war was over by the time it was finished in 1816. It had 23 locks along its length, was suitable for 30-ton barges, and cost £103,000.
Following the Industrial Revolution, commercial trade on the canal gradually increased, with 23,000 tons carried at its peak in 1839. But in 1865, a new railway line opened between Guildford and Horsham in direct competition and in 1871 the canal was formally closed.
The canal was left to go to ruin without maintenance and it was in a sorry condition by 1970, when the Wey and Arun Canal Society (these days called the Wey and Arun Canal Trust) was formed and started restoration work at multiple sections of the route. Consequently, you can now enjoy boat trips and canoeing, kayaking and paddling from the canal centre at Loxwood, where the walk on this page starts from. However, some sections of the canal are still not in use, with lengths of the former waterway now dry, including some parts that run through Sidney Wood, a walk for which you can find on this site here. Note, there is also a walk on this site that starts at the canal centre and goes eastbound.
Gallery: What’s it like here?
Parking
Park in the overflow car park of the Onslow Arms pub and Loxwood Canal Centre car park – the access drive is down the side of the pub building, passing the canal centre. The pub has a lovely canal-side garden, which is dog friendly as is the pub’s bar area.
Poo bins?
One on the tow path between the canal centre and Brewhurst Lock.
Self-guided walk
Here is a Footpath app route that will take you westbound from the canal centre at Loxwood, which is tucked behind the Onslow Arms pub. Also on AllTrails. This walk is a little longer than most of the walks on this site at nearly 3.5 miles long but it’s a flat walk and quite a lot of it is shady. You’ll initially follow the canal but then loop through Sussex countryside and briefly along the Sussex Border Path, before returning along the canal.
Length: approximately 3.4 miles/5.5km
Terrain: Pretty flat, about half of the walk is mainly on the canal tow path, much of which is dry. Other parts of it can be extremely muddy in the winter, especially the section through the woods.
Stiles/kissing gates? No stiles, no kissing gates
Park up and head to the canal centre building, which overlooks the water just by the Onslow Arms. With the centre building behind you, turn left and walk along the tow path, passing the pub and its garden on your left.
At the fork, stay with the water and go under the road.
Go through the gap to the side of the vehicle gate and pass the lock. Keep going all the way to the bridge, which is immediately before the next lock, called Devil’s Hole lock.
According to the little information sign, this lock is the old course of the River Lox before the river was straightened to avoid them having to build an aqueduct. It was restored and then reopened in 2020.
Turn right just before the lock gates and use the bridge to cross the canal. The path on the other side is narrow and sheltered through trees.
Continue ahead at the planks and emerge into the field, then follow the footpath ahead towards the houses.
When you reach the houses, continue down the right-hand side of them.
At the driveway, go straight across and walk a few more paces to the track and the finger post.
Turn left and walk alongside a barn. Stay on this track for a way and when it forks, keep right on the footpath where the marker post is (rather than going round to the left into the field.)
Stay on this footpath for quite a way, ignoring a finger post pointing out a footpath to the right. Where the path goes round a corner to the left (and there is gap into fields over to the right), stay with the path and go left. It’ll open out into a field that stretches away to your left. Continue straight ahead with the field boundary on your right.
At the end, go straight onto the narrow footpath (and not right through the gap into the field.)
This path is quite narrow and you’ll pass a finger post (on the left.) As you pass through the trees, it can be very muddy in the wetter months, so you may want to cut to the left into the field that runs parallel and walk along the edge of that instead for a bit. (If you do, be sure to cut back to the footpath at the end of the field!)
When you get to the intersection with a driveway/lane and big gates on the left, keep going straight ahead.
Ignore a small plank bridge to the left (it leads to a stile, unfortunately – the meadow behind said stile is really lovely and whippets can manage it but larger sighthounds cannot.) Follow this narrow path all the way to the cross paths and turn left. This is the Sussex Border Path. Follow this straight and it’ll bring you to a bridge.
Cross the bridge and turn left.
You’re now walking along the route of the Wey-Arun canal, but you’ll probably notice that the canal to your left is somewhat lacking. This part of the canal is still in a state of disuse and has yet to be restored.
Stay on this path now all the way back to the canal centre. Along the way, you’ll cross a little driveway and walk alongside a tall fence, which marks the boundary of some properties. You’ll also pass a disused lock, which has fallen into disrepair and is yet to be returned to its former glory. You’ll come to Devil’s Hole, where you crossed the water earlier.
Keep going straight, back under the road and stop off in the pub.
Walks with Rena 