Richard’s Wey, December 2014

Published on: 15 Dec, 2014
Updated on: 15 Dec, 2014

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

At the beginning of November I went along to our rangers’ conference, which saw ‘outdoors’ staff (rangers, gardeners, lengthsmen, and so on) from all over the region attending a two-day event to discuss National Trust strategies and share knowledge.

All of the lengthsmen got the chance to attend at least part of the conference, but of course we can’t guarantee it won’t rain, so we had to take it in turns to ensure weir cover to control the water levels on the navigation.

I attended the gathering on the first day and as well as listening to the guest speaker I got to take part in workshops on corporate volunteering and creating better signage in the countryside.

All of which was very interesting, but I probably learnt the most from just getting to speak with other rangers, something that doesn’t happen very often.

While Lucy and Emma were at the conference on the second day I looked after their weirs at Triggs and Walsham, as well as my own. This in itself was a learning experience as each length is different, but it was made easier by the detailed instructions and guidance that we have each written for just these eventualities.

With limited vehicle and machinery access along the Wey Navigation, new lock gates have to be floated on to site by barge and then lifted into place manually using a block and tackle.

The other big event in November was the lock stoppage at Millmead, where our maintenance team closed down the lock for three weeks whilst they changed both sets of lock gates as well as other repairs.

As you can imagine this is no mean feat and has to be meticulously planned well in advance so that the lock gates can be ordered, equipment moved to site and boaters given fair warning that the lock will be closed.

Unfortunately, the lower lock gates had to be replaced before the end of their expected life as they had been damaged by a boat collision during the summer, costing an additional £20,000.

Although I wasn’t directly involved in the work on the lock, the stoppage did mean that I had to keep a very close eye on water levels. This is because the lock has to be dammed up so that it can be drained, requiring water levels to be lower than normal to prevent water entering the lock chamber – you may have noticed that the river between Guildford and Stoke Lock was much lower. This involved checking the level in Guildford town centre very regularly, especially with the periods of heavy rain that we had this month.

Although predominantly occupied by weir operation, other tasks that my volunteers and I have been doing have involved raking leaves at Bowers Lock, cutting back the vegetation on the non-towpath side of the navigation downstream of Dapdune and sweeping moss from bridges and walkways.

All in all a very busy month, so here’s to a dry December so that I can crack on with the winter work programme and hopefully have a peaceful Christmas!

Richard Cant

Stoke Lengthsman

07786 703 832

richard.cant@nationaltrust.org.uk