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Buckinghamshire, England

Willen Lake South put-in (Willen)

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LaunchA slipway on the south basin of Willen Lake.
ParkingOne of four Smart Parking car parks around Willen Lake; pay on arrival via ANPR (RingGo app, card or cash), maximum stay 48 hours.
AccessThe Parks Trust permits paddlers to launch their own craft on Willen Lake; it does not allow this at any of its other Milton Keynes parks.
RegulationsThe Parks Trust does not allow inflatable or motor-powered craft on Willen Lake.

This slipway sits on the south basin of Willen Lake, a roughly 40-hectare balancing lake in Milton Keynes split into north and south basins by the A509. The Parks Trust permits paddlers to launch their own kayaks, canoes and paddleboards on Willen Lake; the lake's staffed watersports centre and self-launch scheme operate from their own pontoons elsewhere on the south basin, about 300 metres along the shore.

Willen Lake is a roughly 40-hectare, purpose-built balancing lake created during the 1970s development of Milton Keynes, built to prevent flooding downstream in Newport Pagnell and Bedford. The south and north basins are divided by an embankment carrying the A509; this launch sits on the south basin, along whose edge the village of Willen and its Grade I listed, Robert Hooke-designed Church of St Mary Magdalene (1680) stand.

The lake was engineered with variable depth: deeper channels for fish alongside shallower margins that can be exposed as banks in dry spells, with the south basin generally deeper than the north.

Nearby

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Cafe at Willen Lake's watersports centre, about 300 metres along the lakeside.

Conditions to check

Shallow or rocky

Some margins of the lake are exposed as banks in dry spells.

Source
Boat traffic

The south basin is also used for sailing and powerboating.

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Other

Sluice gates, controlled by Anglian Water, release water into the River Ouzel when levels drop after heavy rain.

Source

Other launches nearby

1 launch within 72m
  • 72m north
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