The construction of a bywash around lock 1 was the work for this dig. The Basingstoke canal is amazingly close to London, so many people actually drove to the dig - and got there early. Those of us who were in the van received a phone call from Ed at about 8: "why's there no-one in the pub?" - we hadn't even left Waterloo at that point, but got to the pub in about 40 minutes!

When we arrived at the pub, Pete Redway explained our tasks for the weekend. Much of the work was to be brickwork at the inlets & outlets of the bywash. Other tasks included backfilling, breaking up unwanted concrete and installing tie-backs.

Woodham Church Hall provided us with accommodation for the weekend - it is a good hall, complete with showers. The only annoyance is that the cooker takes about half an hour to light! The hall boasts some rather odd signs: "Hi there, I am your toilet & I want to be your friend - so please keep my clean", "I am your rubbish bin - use me". Hmmm, well, yes. Lesley liked them anyway. And I won't forget to mention Matt killing some time in the hall.

On Saturday, after a good breakfast from Matt & Ed, we were soon on site. The weather was glorious, which made the dig even better. Surprisingly, the weather remained good despite Rhys being on site - it was the first London WRG dig that he has attended where it hasn't pissed it down!

Martin, Matt & I started the brickwork on the bywash outlet. Meanwhile others fished around with grappling hooks to retrieve the six wheelbarrows which had been thrown in the cut by the local kids. Some tie-back piling was carried out too, and the bywash inlet was prepared for brickwork. By cunning use of cut bricks, Martin did an excellent curved bit of wall, which looked really good when completed. I made a start on the outlet arch, which turned out moderately well considering I'd never built an arch before - I never told Pete that of course! A disc cutter came in very handy for cutting bricks to shape. OK, so I did cock-up the levels a bit, but I blame it on the mortar being too wet and too dry at the same time.

"D'Artagnan and the Three Concreteers" (in the form of Marcus, Ed, Dave and Rick) went about backfilling the wall. Later on, it was landscaped with earth.

As Saturday drew to a close, most of us wanted dinner, but Martin & Matt needed to finish pointing their brickwork. The rest of us went back to the hall, and did some "cooking by committee", which turned out surprisingly well. At one point, there was a bit of a confusion about the numbers of people eating. "Ten Little Navvies" was mentioned, but luckily no-one had disappeared, and we had cooked enough for everyone.

Sunday got off to a good start with Andi's garlic mushrooms. After getting a few extra groceries, we met Tim and Aileen on site. A start was made on the brickwork for the inlet bywash. Rick Ansell - not a character from Bankside but a volunteer on his first London WRG dig - built an excellent wall next to the bywash pipe. The construction of this was complicated because the ground sloped upwards at quite an angle.

Andi broke up some wire meshing, and Ed cut up the rods into short lengths. These were then installed into the existing concrete base to provide a tie-back to concrete backfill, which is to be poured once the brickwork has been completed.

Over all, a very good dig. Lots of quality work done. The completion of the lock 1 bywash can't be far off - which is pretty good going considering we only started work there earlier this year. Thanks to everyone for making it such a successful dig.