The Basingstoke Canal was built in seven years in the late 1700s
running from Basingstoke in the West to West Byfleet in the east.
It was relatively successful in its early days, but in the early
1800s its fate was sealed by the completion of the railway from
London to Basingstoke. The canal was even used to transport
materials required for the railway while it was being built. You
can find out more about the canal at the Basingstoke Canal
Authority website, or the Surrey and Hampshire Canal
Society website.
On to the cache itself: you will be able to enjoy the best of
the canal in this area by parking at Odiham - there's a big car
park right by the canal there. (Just up the road is The Water Witch
pub, if you want a meal or a drink.) From the car park it is a
pleasant walk of about three quarters of a mile to the cache. The
towpath is suitable for bikes, and we've taken a buggy down it many
times, but it is not suitable for wheelchairs because it's quite
narrow in places and at times very overgrown. If you want to be
different, then you could hire a boat on the canal by the car park,
and approach the cache by boat! (There are several other places you
could park to approach this cache from different directions, and
several other caches in the area as well.)
When you reach the cache site, please be careful not to drop the
cache as you retrieve it. If you do, then it will be lost
forever!