Another of David Rose's Popular Walks

I hope to welcome a good number of people to the circular walk I will be leading that takes in the River Wey Navigation, Riverside Nature Reserve and Stoke Park. It starts and finishes at the National Trust’s Dapdune Wharf in Guildford.

Stoke Lake

I lead several free walks each year for the National Trust’s River Wey Navigations and this one, on Saturday, September 13, is timed to coincide with Guildford Walkfest.

The National Trust looks after their waterway well and knows its history and the benefits to people who visit and enjoy it.

I do enjoy walking along river and canal towpaths, there’s always lots to see. And being flat, they make for easy walking. Expect lots of history details as we walk it.

Beyond Stoke Lock there’s now considerable development taking place on the north side of the waterway. This is the Slyfield regeneration project, known officially as the Weyside Urban Village. Much is happening with huge amounts of earth being moved and infrastructure going in. We’ll catch a glimpse of some of it on the walk.

The project will include a relocated sewage treatment works, a new Guildford Borough Council depot, plus 1,500 homes will be built there. However, it’s a long way off completion, but there will be time to discuss the merits of it on the walk.

The Riverside Nature Reserve, with Stoke Lake as its centrepiece (all looked after by Guildford Borough Council), is not that old. It was created in the early 1980s, at the same time as the modern A3 bypass was built.

I remember it when it was just a swamp and again when the lake was newly dug and the landscape was very bare indeed. How much the trees and bushes have grown since then! It’s a wonderful wildlife haven on Guildford’s doorstep.

Then on through the woods beside the natural River Wey and past the Spectrum leisure centre to reach Stoke Park. This year is the 100th anniversary of the park’s purchase by Guildford Corporation to be a public open space - but initial plans were to build homes on half of it!

I’m interested in the Second World War history of the park when half of it was turned over to garden allotments. And in 1943 when two RAF Mustang aircraft collided overhead and crashed into the park.

We will then walk back by some side streets to Dapdune Wharf with the option to enjoy refreshments in its tearoom there.

You do need to book with the National Trust at Dapdune Wharf to come on the walk. Phone 0344 249 189.