Most of this focus has traditionally been on restoring old railway routes, with dozens of "living museums" up and down the country preserving our steam heritage.

Less heralded, but perhaps more useful, is the slow restoration of the canal network.

I have been following the progress of two projects in particular that appear to be succeeding against massive odds.

The first is the restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, a waterway that crosses the Pennines near to where I once lived when working in Manchester.

This has involved the restoration of the longest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom and the rebuilding of several road bridges in order to re-establish the route.

Perhaps less ambitious but of more interest locally is the rebuilding of the Wey and Arun Canal, London's so-called "lost route to the sea".

Amazingly, when a few individuals first showed interest in restoring the Wey and Arun Canal in the early 1970s, it had been closed for approximately 90 years and much of the route had seemingly been lost for good.

Originally, the canal was built to transport freight from London to the south coast without the necessity of being transported by sea during one of the many wars with the French.

Trouble was that the canal was almost redundant from the moment it opened, as the war had finished.

The canal joined the navigable rivers Arun and Wey between Shalford in Surrey and Pallingham near Billingshurst, a total of 23 miles.

While it wasn't the financial disaster that other canals were, it was never a huge success and finally succumbed to closure when the Guildford to Horsham railway line opened (ironically now closed itself).

For the next 90 years, the canal slowly returned to nature before the Wey and Arun Canal Trust was formed to oversee its restoration.

Since work started on restoring the canal, the trust has succeeded in restoring 19 bridges and eight locks.

Over half the route has been worked on and eventually the route will form a green corridor for wildlife and plants through what is predominantly an agricultural area.

So far, work has been concentrated in areas where landowners have given consent, which means that restoration is somewhat jigsaw-like.

If you want to see for yourself what work has been completed, it is possible to walk most of the length of the tow-path on a walk known as the Wey-South Path.

This mostly follows the canal although diversions exist where there is no right of way over private land.

If this sounds too energetic, you can also take a canal boat ride from the Onslow Arms at Loxwood to get a flavour of how the route will look when finished.

Here you can see one of the bridges being rebuilt to restore the link under the B2133.

Further information about the canal restoration can be found at
www.weyandarun.co.uk