The Slough Arm of the Grand Union in England - Walking or Cycling along the Slough Arm Towpath.

The 5 mile long Slough Canal Arm travels in a fairly straight line from the Grand Union at Cowley Peachey Junction into Slough terminating at the Stoke Poges Road. As building increased rapidly in London there was an insatiable requirement for bricks so a new brick works was built in Slough and the Arm was used to get these bricks onto the Grand Union Canal Main line and then on into London. The canal was also used to carry sand and gravel until these supplies were exhausted in the early 1940s.
Construction of the Arm started in 1880 and was completed right at the end of 1882 - the Arm then enjoyed continued commerical operation right up to 1960 when British Waterways took it over. They considered the canal not to be worth saving and of course along came Slough Council who wanted to do what they and so many of our councils do best - shove concrete everywhere and destroy a bit more of our English Heritage. Fortunately The Slough Canal Group was created and they fought a vigorous campaign along with the help of the Slough Observer Newspaper to keep the canal alive - this campaign was successful and the canal was re-opened in 1975.

It is interesting that the big thing these days in England is to get people out and about for some healthy exercise etc. - canals are ideal for this be it walking or cycling. You only have to see how many families and people are out on the canals on a nice Sunday afternoon to see that if the enviornment is safe, clean and accessible then areas get used. However in the case of canals the amount of money to upkeep them is in effect being reduced with the result that canal banks and towpaths are often not kept in good condition and the canal starts leaking - paths and towpaths get more and more unpassable - therefore the canals stop being used. The whole situation is quite pathetic- our old canal systems should have more money spent on them not less. Anyway - this canal towpath is fortunately in really good condition for cyclists and walkers - there are several bridges and three very interesting aqueducts which are used to cross Fray's River, the River Colne and Colne Brook - there are no locks on the Arm apart from a barely visible sight of the original stop lock at the Grand Union end of the arm. (see the bottom left of the first picture shown below).

Old Stoplock + Cowley Peachey Jc.	Footbridge to the Marina	Frays River Aqueduct	Aqueduct over Frays River	Frays River with the Arm crossing above
Footbridge - 1	Footbridge - 1	River Colne Aqueduct	River Colne Aqueduct	The River Colne and the Arm above
Colne Brook Aqueduct	Colne Brook Aqueduct	Sluice by Colne Brook	Conveyor Bridge 2 with Pipes	Conveyor Bridge - 2

The Slough Canal is quite wide and does seem to have a reasonable depth of water although we have read elsewhere that it is quite silted in places. We walked the Slough Canal Arm at the end of February 2008 and it was evident that some work has been done especially on the sides where many of the trees have had their overhanging branches lopped etc. Although of course in our winter the canal looked quite bare there are plenty of trees and shrubs and reeds around and one imagines it is a very green area to walk or cycle along/around once Spring arrives.

Great set of Pipe Bridges	M25 ugly concrete bridge	M25 bridge	Canal Bridge - 3	Canal Bridge - 3
Meads Bridge - 4	Meads Bridge - 4	Dismantled Bridge - 5	Dismantled Bridge - 5	Market Lane Bridge - 6
Market Lane Bridge - 6	Langley Park Roadbridge - 7	Langley Park Roadbridge - 7	Trenches Bridge - 8	Trenches Bridge - 8
St Marys Roadbridge - 9	St Marys Roadbridge - 9	Middle Green Roadbridge - 10	Middle Green Roadbridge - 10	Uxbridge Roadbridge - 11
Uxbridge Roadbridge - 11	Wexham Roadbridge - 12	Wexham Roadbridge - 12	Slough Canal Basin	End of the Slough Arm

The Slough Canal Arm ends in Slough by the B416 Stoke Road and sadly this area in a bit of a dismal state - the small basin is scruffy and littered with rubbish and the the basin itself appears quite silted and weedy with grotty stained water. Surrounding the basin there are simply parking slots and a builders yard - when you consider for instance how the basin at Market Harborough looks then maybe the authorities at Slough have missed a trick or two in appreciating the commercial benefits of a canal on their doorstep.

We have picked out a few Books about England - Churches, Canals and Rivers as well as walks in England and English Nature. The Nicholsons Waterways Guides are a "must take" for anyone going on a Canal Barge or Narrowboat holiday (as well as anyone visiting the canals) as they are packed with really useful information. If the development and history of our Canals is of particular interest consider the Anatomy of Canals series - really good reading!. (The relevant Nicholoson Guide covering The Slough Canal (Arm) is BOOK 1.)