Richard’s Wey March 2014

Published on: 9 Apr, 2014
Updated on: 9 Apr, 2014

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

The one word that springs to mind about March is trees! It feels like every job that I have done has revolved around them in one way or another.

It started off with a volunteer work party at Stonebridge Wharf near Shalford where we thinned out some overcrowded trees from a hedgerow before the nesting season had started. From then on I worked on the Walsham, Catteshall, Triggs and St Catherine’s lengths, helping out my fellow lengthsman to finish dealing with either damaged or windblown trees from this winter’s storms.

In return I had assistance with the two fallen willow trees that I had left to deal with on my length, both of which required a lot of heavy winching by hand. Thankfully we now seem to have finished clearing up most of the damage and we are now just waiting on the last few trees to be cleared by our neighbouring landowners, although even liaising with them can take large amounts of our time.

Our maintenance team has been hard at work repairing the perched embankment at Unstead which again was damaged by the winter storms and flooding. This has involved them having to move large amounts of stone by barge from their depot at Send to the work site, which in turn has had a knock on effect on weirs as I’ve had to ensure that there is sufficient depth of water for the loaded barges.

On the way to Unstead they have delivered aggregate to Millmead Lock so that we could do a temporary repair on the worst of the towpath erosion; the team have also done a bank repair on a narrow bit of towpath between Stoke Lock and the Woking Road, and cleared the sand bar opposite Old Bucks weir. All of which should please towpath and river users alike, though please be patient as it will probably take the best part of the year to finish the repairs needed all along the navigation from the winters flooding.

The improved weather in March has meant that I am now firmly looking towards the summer work programme of mowing, strimming and painting, rather than the winter tasks of weir operations and tree work.

Twenty-two bags of litter that my volunteers and I picked up from the towpath after it was deposited by the winter floods. Thanks go to Guildford Borough Council for collecting and disposing of it free of charge.

In between trees I did manage to get the first mow of the locksides done, which is a great feeling as the smell of cut grass alone is enough to get you thinking of sunshine. I also had some help from my work experience volunteers to do a mass litter pick to get the towpath looking tidy, so hopefully as the better weather brings people out to enjoy the navigation they won’t be disappointed.

Richard Cant, Stoke lengthsman.

Tel: 07786 703 832.

Email: richard.cant@nationaltrust.org.uk