Further Wilts & Berks Canal opens

ANOTHER stretch of the Wilts and Berks Canal has been completed, with a trip boat planned.

The Wilts and Berks Canal Trust is planning to celebrate the newly restored stretch with a sponsored walk along its length near Chippenham, and the launching of a trip boat, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Now in water

The new restored length has been filled with water over the past months, with most of it between the Pewsham and Reybridge locks now in water.

The sponsored walk and boat trips will take place on the May Day Monday, with guests boarding at Pewsham Locks and the boat cruising to Reybridge, with organiser Peter Williams relating:

"We hope people of all ages will want to join us at such an historic moment, when we finally showcase all the benefits of a restored Wilts & Berks Canal."

Volunteers have spent tens of thousands of hours working on the canal, which has been dry for around a century, with undergrowth cleared, rubbish removed and many of the structures conserved and then restored.