Richard’s Wey August 2013

Published on: 29 Aug, 2013
Updated on: 29 Aug, 2013

Richard Cant, the Stoke lengthsman of the River Wey and Godalming Navigations.

The latest of our riverbank tales from the local Stoke lengthsman Richard Cant

Much of August has been spent controlling vegetation to make the towpath an enjoyable place for everyone.

Part of this has involved finishing off the hedge trimming along the back edge of the towpath for the benefit of walkers and cyclists.

I have also been out strimming gaps in the vegetation for boats to moor up and for fisherman to gain access to the waters edge.

The few damp days that interrupted the sunshine this month also meant that the grass has gone from burnt dry to a more luscious green, meaning that the locksides have needed a once over with the mower again.

One of the final cutting back jobs for the end of the summer is trimming the brambles, but the blackberries are just ripe at the moment so I’m going to hold off for now but get in quick as they don’t last for long.

Although the majority of my time during the summer is spent managing the vegetation, I always like to point out to people the variety of work that us lengthsman do, so some of the other tasks I have taken part in this month are listed below:

Built benches with the Wey Navigation Conservation Volunteers at Coxes Mill Pond near Addlestone.
Cleaned vegetation from the lock gates so that they don’t degrade as quickly.
Replaced the throttle cable on an outboard motor
Cleared fallen trees from the natural river at Walsham near Ripley.
Built comment card boxes for the notice boards along the Navigations.
Site visits with contractors to arrange tree works.
Meetings with local residents to chat about any queries or concerns.
And of course picked up the litter on numerous occasions to try and keep the place looking spick and span.

If you’re an early bird now is the perfect time to see some fantastic early morning mists along the navigation.

August finished with the last of the year’s summer bank holidays, and as usual at least part of the weekend was a washout!

Thankfully the Monday was a lovely day and the boaters and other river users were out in force to enjoy the long weekend and to make the most of the end of the school holidays.

On reflection, it’s been a good dry summer especially in comparison to last year’s constant rain, although it has been a very short one as we were still having frosts at night until the end of May.

Hopefully this will be made up for by an “Indian Summer” this September/October, and people can still get out and enjoy the wonderful sights the river has to offer such as the early morning mists that we have just started to have.

Richard Cant

Stoke Lengthsman

07786 703 832

richard.cant@nationaltrust.org.uk

www.facebook.com/RiverWey