Saturday 5th November 2022

Well, the good news is we’ve made it onto the River Wey navigation. The bad news is we can’t go anywhere until the river water levels drop. The good news is we are moored right outside a pub and a marina, so all facilities are to hand although the bad news is there are no food shops! A great excuse just to eat in the pub!

We left Shepperton on Tuesday morning in quite windy conditions and almost missed the sign pointing us to the Wey navigation so all was not sweetness and light! We arrived at the lock keeper’s cottage and I needed to produce proof of insurance, a mooring contact, a boat safety certificate …. all tucked away somewhere within my emails, so you can imagine the delay that involved – it’s all well and good not having paper copies, but it helps if you know how to access stored documents online! Eventually all was in order and we were allowed through the lock. The Wey navigation is the property of the National Trust so we are no longer under the authority of the CRT. The NT have different rules, beginning with how to operate a lock. The engine must be turned off and the boat secured fore and aft with mooring ropes. The initial lock, where we had the assistance of the lock keeper, found me edging along the side of the boat and balancing precariously to catch hold of the bow line. A tricky manoeuvre that I didn’t relish repeating. I then remembered our boat hook pole. At the next lock I just hooked the bow line using the pole – far safer. However on arriving at said lock we were surprised to find no way of easily alighting from the boat to operate the lock. It involved clambering onto our roof and then a heave-ho onto the side. Not sure how less able people would cope! The etiquette is to leave the exit gates open, thus taking longer to operate the lock with alot of walking involved, so our progress was fairly slow. The navigation itself is very pretty. I hadn’t realised it’s a combination of river and canal so some stretches are safe regardless of the weather conditions and the amount of rainfall. Mindful of the weather forecast, predicting heavy rain, we decided to moor just before arriving at Pyrford marina. That way, if the weather worsened and we were unable to continue our journey for a considerable time (red boards appear at the lock gates forbidding travel until further notice) at least we had the option of taking refuge in the marina. The banks of the canal proved to be muddy so we had to use our plank to reach the towpath. Hunkering down for the night we heard the continuous rainfall but, with no sides of the boat touching the bank, we were mercifully bump free!

Awaking on Wednesday morning, we were not surprised to read on the National Trust weather site that the navigation was closed on the river sections. Friends from home came to visit and as we walked along the towpath to meet them, we were delighted to find a pub around the corner. We are now moored right outside it on mooring bollards, which we have been informed are far safer to use for mooring when water levels are high. No one can tell how long the navigation will be closed so we just have to sit tight and wait. I hitched a lift home with our friends, returning with our car which means we can go out and about. I took the opportunity to have a quick bath. With the boat not moving the options for hot water and power are limited.

Friday was glorious in the sun. A perfect day to travel but when I rang the wardens in charge of the navigation they said the water levels are still on the rise so the river is unsafe. We welcomed more visitors and went for a walk inland. With flooding in the nearby fields and along the paths, we ended up with very wet feet! The day was surprisingly mild and after lunch R and I took another walk along the towpath southward. We were surprised to see a long queue of cars blocking the nearby country lane so I looked at the travel information only to find an accident on the A3 had redirected all the traffic in our direction. The jam continued all afternoon and there was much beeping of horns and at times raised voices from irate and frustrated drivers.

A drink in the pub was preferable to a slightly damp boat and then going straight to bed meant we didn’t need to light the woodburner – surprisingly it is just not quite cold enough!

Today we awoke to a steady drizzle of rain but this didn’t deter R’s second cousin, her husband and two of their children coming to visit us. Not really knowing where I am, I was surprised to hear they live just ten minutes away. It was a very happy visit as we hadn’t seen them since before lockdown so there was lots of chat. They left having invited us to supper and baths on Monday night and an open invitation to make use of their home, which is incredibly kind of them. Looking at the forecast we really don’t know how long it will be before we will be allowed to move on and their offer of a dry bolt hole is very reassuring.