Hampton Court

Pyrford to Hampton Court

June 2017

Having covered so much ground yesterday we decided to repeat the exercise and set our alarms for 6.00am. However, there is sometimes a gap between intent and action. 

Misty morning on the Wey

I intended to get up and did so, but Helen had a bad night and didn't! She looked so bleary eyed at six I suggested she went back to sleep and I would take the boats down to the services at Pyrford Lock. As it turned out I turned the lock whilst the water was filling and then dropped down the shallow lock on my own, and just carried on. I think she eventually woke as I passed he junction for the Basingstoke Canal a couple of miles further on.

Rope rollers at Walsham Flood Lock

The early morning was delightful, with a heavy mist hanging over the meadows and everything dripping with dew. Much to my surprise I discovered Melaleuca moored stern out about 400 yards downstream from where we had stopped. There was no sign of life so I puttered past and into the mists swirling around Walsham Flood gates.

I am not sure if its on account of the cooler temperatures making cruising more pleasurable, or the benefit of going with the flow, but we seemed to make rapid progress down the navigation passing New Haw and Coxes Locks in quick succession and by 10.00am we found ourselves leaving Town Lock with its sharp bend and approaching Thames Lock with its resident lock keeper.

 Coxes Mill

Town Lock, Weybridge

We brought the butty back to into the river breasted formation and were helped down through both locks and there we were, back on the glistening Thames at Shepperton.

Well, that was a bit of a surprise. We had crawled up the Wey navigations over three days and came back down it in just over one. But this isnt a navigation to be hurried, Its a delightful mix of canal and river and represents the first modern era navigation. It is quirky, with irregular locks which can catch you by surprise and many split channels where its reassuring to see a letter box bridge with the word Navigation telling you which way to go. What is most amazing is its isolation. Its a 20 mile waterway which runs through a densely populated area but apart from Guildford there is nothing to be seen except pasture water meadows and occasional glimpses of church towers in the distance.

Dodgy mooring or what?

Of course, there is unfinished business up here. Sure, we made it to Godalming, but we never ventured up the 30 mile Basingstoke Canal. A good reason to return, maybe in 2019.

Back on the Thames the sun burned away both the mist and the high cloud and by noon it was pushing 30C. We ran downstream to the Molesey Reservoirs, a couple of miles upstream from Hampton Court, and found a nice shady spot under the bank and hid for the rest of the day.

By 4.00pm we had both dozed and decided to take a dip in the Thames. I will let the pictures tell the story....

Ladies First:

And then himself:

Well, I did grow up in the Benny Hill era!

Heading north

Godalming to Pyrford

June 2017

If yesterday was a canal of two halves, this has been a day of two halves.

St Catherines Lock, Godalming Navigation

As planned, we woke at 6.00am and were on the move by 6.30. The coolness of the early morning was delicious after these long sticky days. Dew dripped from the boat and Helen even sported a sweatshirt for the first hour or so. 

Godalming Wharf has a Sainsburys next door, which includes a fuel station, which was handy because the generator was running on fumes last week when we used it to power the printer. 

Off we went along a mirror calm navigation, the early morning sun flickering through the leaves and here and there an early morning jogger out on the towpath. As we approached Guildford the towpath started to throng with walkers going to work, not something I have encountered in any volume before.

Corner rollers on Godalming Navigation

The river sections are extremely winding, so twisty that the navigation authority installed rollers on the bends to guide the ropes round. I would imagine that a long lining pair would lose sight of each other, and heaven help any pedestrians caught by the tight tow ropes and the motor hauled the butty against the strong flow. Of course, we are coming downstream now so our progress is much faster, and that also creates problems on the corners where there isn't really time to get the butty through one turn before its time to reverse it and go the next. It certainly tested my control skills to the limit and I only went aground once, and that was because I was also trying to photograph the rollers.

Guildford

The bends were not the only obstacle. A lone rower was out from Guildford Rowing Club, working up a sweat powering up and down the river. The trouble was that he was so focused on his rowing he never thought to cast a glance behind him. I was coming downstream at maybe 2.5mph and he was dashing along at about 10 mph, so we closed fast. I noted that he was holding the right of the river to I moved to my right and it appeared he had clocked me and made allowance. Not so! As he got closer to me he moved back more to the middle and although there was no chance of his boat hitting mine an oar clattered our side.

Alice, her sister and the hare

Now I would assume that rowers have a responsibility to keep an eye on where they are going, indeed many seem to have a sixth sense about other boats, but this one was obviously startled and yelled that I should have shouted warnings at him. He was completely shocked at my suggestion that he casts a glance behind him from time to time. How is it that is you do something wrong its always someone else's fault????  

The Bargee in Guildford

Anyway, rowers aside it was a tranquil trip through Guildford, spotting a number of great sculptures on the towpath.

Eclectic art in Guildford

By 10.30am the sun was hot so we pulled in at the shady spot we used a couple of nights ago and waited out the day, to resume movement on the cool of the evening.

So, after an eight hour pause we set off into the setting sun. All traffic on the Wey Navigation has ceased and one by one we passed the northbound craft which has passed us as they toiled through the heat of the day.

Papercourt Lock Cottage

We slipped down the waterway as the sun dipped away to the west, setting as we passed Papercourt Lock and then Newark Lock at about 9.15pm. In the end we moored on the water meadows just above Walsham Flood gates, pulling it at 9.30 as the light was failing..

Newark Abbey at sunset

Godalming

Guildford to Godalming

June 2017

The Wey Navigations has a number of faces, but from a strictly legal perspective there are two elements: The Wey Navigation which runs 15 miles from the Thames at Weybridge to Guildford and then it becomes the Godalming Navigation for its final five miles. 

We spent the night just above Bowers Lock, huddled in a stand of ancient oak trees which offered shade from the relentless sun. Sunday started slowly as we had visitors from Weybridge arriving and travel issues delayed their arrival till noon. I decided to use the delay to change the engine oil which was nearly 30 hours over its scheduled 250 so, at 9.00am I thought "its not too hot - it will be fine" and donned my trusty boiler suit. It soon became apparent why its called a boiler suit! Even with is turned down to my waist I sweated my way through the task. But hey, its a job done and it wont need doing again till we are in the Braunston area in August.

:Peter and Rachael Talibart

Peter and Rachael Talibart arrived and after cooling drinks we headed south and into Guildford. As we approached Depdune Wharf, which is the National Trust's centre of operations for the Navigation, Melaleuca passed us going the other way - drat. We had both been keeping an eye on each others progress and both figured we would meet the other moored up. Rapid pleasantries were exchanged as the boats drifted apart and we tootled into Depdune to find the Sanny Station. Then, as I was hunting for the door, Melaleuca appeared from down river. It seems her Captn did a sharp about turn in the river, creating a winding hole by crunching the bows into the bank - and taking his crew by surprise. It was great to have a few minutes to catch up and let them restock their preserve larder.

Depdune Wharf

Then it was on in the heat of the day through Guildford and Town Lock amid hoards of gongoozlers, trying to keep cool at the temperature nudged 30C. Frankly by then we were trying to find shade, any shade and having spied a likely looking spot just south of Millmead, we drove in our pegs and gave up for the day. As it was gone four our guests took their leave and set out for a train back to Weybridge.

Rope Rollers on Godalming Navigation

As for us we sat in the shade and contemplated our next  move. We have a deadline to be in Ware for 29th June (allowing a day to set up) and we need to have enough time to cross London, which means a tidal crossing at 2.00pm (ish) on Friday with a day for Hampton Court on Thursday. Thus far it has taken us three days to cover a measly 16 miles, a tally which has far more to do with the heat than the state of the navigation. But it was so frustrating to have got within 3.5 miles of the end and missed it. By then it was 7.00 and the sun had lost its sting so we though - why not carry on this evening?. 

Paddle boarder at Unstead Bridge

We were delighted with our decision because the winding river sections south to Godalming are a delight. I didnt notice the advertised shallowing of the channel. However, the bridges are low, kind of Stoke on Trent low. We pressed on, eventually reaching Godalming Wharf at 9.30pm. 

There are three mown stretches of bank prepared for visiting boats but irritatingly one was occupied by a boat and the other two contained a fisherman. Undaunted we created a mooring adjacent to the service block and refilled the water tank and disposed of the rubbish and then had a think about our best approach to the return journey.

Godalming Wharf

As tomorrow is forecast to be even hotter than today we decided to get up uncharacteristically early  at 6.00am and get a good four hours under our belt before the sum gets hot. By my reckoning that would take us back to our previous nights mooring above Bowers lock, where we know there is shade. Then, when its cooler, we will set off again and cover another 5 or 6 miles in the evening.

No Wey!

Guildford

June 2017

Yes, we have made it onto the Wey Navigations, and its certainly the furthest south we have ever boated.

 Coxs Mill Wey Navigations

Friday morning saw us awoken by shouting from a passing boat, followed by a rapping on the roof. I emerged resplendent in my PJ's (it was 8.30am) to see a narrowboat hovering in mid stream asking if we were open? They were existing customers who had been following the blog and were hoping to catch us. They restocked on jams and suitably enthused the rapper, who came from the boat in front of us bought another three jars! When I say rapper I don't mean a hoodie wearing member of the gold tooth "down wiv the kids" brigade - you know where I am coming from...

This way to the Wey

With the till troubled we set off through Shepperton Lock and then hung a hard right into the Wey Navigations. You are faced with three options and the correct choice it the least promising - basically a small gap in the trees with a faded national Trust sign. They say that the path to heaven is the narrow one.

Thames Lock

We arrived at the wrong time really. The lock keeper of Thames Lock has his lunch from 12.30 till 2.00pm, so we hooked onto the landing jetty and settled down for a wait. Thames Lock is an oddity and kind of sets the scene for the whole navigation. The Wey navigation is arguably the oldest navigation in the  country, authorised in 1651 and is now owned by the National Trust, so things are done a bit differently. When built Thames Lock discharged onto the tidal river but, with the building of Shepperton Lock, the water over the bottom cill fell to less than 2ft. So rather than build a new lock an extra gate was built a water gate ashort way downstream and this is used to raise a short pound by 2 ft, which allows deeper drafted craft to enter.

Because the Wey is NT owned there is another fee to be paid, and for anything over 40ft its £80 for a week. Once a gain the butty proved a challenge and it was decided to class it as an unpowered craft (which includes canoes) and that added a further £12 to the bill. As NT members we has a 10% reduction but we still ended up paying over £80, in addition to the £120 we paid for the Thames for a month. Hey ho, its the Wey Navigations we really wanted to see so we raided the WildSide purse and pain the man his due.

We spent the next three hours plodding up the first five miles with the butty breasted up, but we only saw one boat moving. The breasted up approach is great for control but the navigation is both narrow and surprisingly fast flowing which almost brought us to a standstill in the bridges.

Woodham Junction - Basingstoke Canal

A few miles upstream we came to Woodham Junction where the Basingstoke Canal leaves on its journey west. We would love to have explored it but we just don't have the time, so it remains a reason to return!

In the end we crawled onto the moorings beside the Anchor Pub at Pryeford and wilted in the heat.

MSC steam tug

Saturday saw us rejoin the plod up the Wey navigation, this time with the butty in line astern which helped a lot with the speed. Just as well because the flow through Walsham Flood Gates would probably have defeated is in the previous configuration.

If yesterday was hot today approached unbearable. The sun shone relentlessly and the thermometer hovered near 30C. It really wasn't weather to be boating, but we moved upstream another seven miles to just above Bowers Lock where there was a bit of road noise, but was in deep shade. 

Pyreford Lock

A trip to Saunsburys was deemed necessary so we followed Helen's Google maps instructions for a mile only to discover it has misdirected us and the supermarket was a mile away - in the other direction. So we dragged ourselves into the store, made our purchases and slumped under an air con unit and ate Magnums till we had cooled a bit. 

Tomorrow is forecast even hotter so I doubt we will get much past Guildford.