Richard’s Wey May 2014

Published on: 15 Jun, 2014
Updated on: 15 Jun, 2014

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

May started with the usual mad dash to get everywhere looking smart for the bank holiday weekend, so I was busy mowing the locksides and clearing up litter ready for the increase in river users.

My beautiful daughter Olivia Rose at one day old.

I also made sure that the bird box kits that my volunteers and I had made over the winter were ready for the children to make as part of the Down-Your-Wey Day activities on bank holiday Monday at Dapdune Wharf in Guildford.

The weekend after that was my twice yearly Cream Tea Totter guided walk, which involves a gentle stroll along the towpath from Dapdune Wharf to Bowers Lock, followed by cream teas on the lockside and a boat trip back on our electric launch Dapdune Belle.

This is always a walk that I thoroughly enjoy leading and it’s particularly nice when people come back and do it again as they enjoyed it so much. Thankfully the weather held for us and we missed what seemed to be April showers that plagued the whole of May instead.

Other tasks during early May were painting Bowers Lock and strimming moorings in the towpath vegetation for visiting boats to be able to moor up. Of course, the heavy showers meant that the weirs needed to be operated, and even though the winds weren’t anything like those that we had this winter, I still had to race out one Saturday morning to clear a tree that was completely blocking the towpath at Parvis Wharf, Byfleet.

Then on May 13 my life changed for ever, as my wife gave birth to our beautiful little daughter Olivia Rose Cant, born at 2.48am in the morning and weighing 6lbs 11oz.

As you can probably guess I’m a very proud father so I was very lucky to be able to take three weeks off work to spend time enjoying being a dad. I would like to say thank you to my colleagues for looking after my water levels and helping to keep on top of my workload whilst I’ve been off.

I don’t think I would have been able to cope with sleepless nights from a new-born baby and also having to get up in the night to operate the weirs. Of course nature stops for no man and this time of year is particularly busy with vegetation growth at its fastest, so please bear with me while I get back on top of things over the course of the next month.

Richard Cant

07786 703 832

richard.cant@nationaltrust.org.uk

www.facebook.com/RiverWey