Richard’s Wey September 2018

Published on: 20 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 20 Sep, 2018

The latest report from Richard Cant, the Stoke lengthman on the River Wey Navigations

I seem to have done a lot of tree work over recent weeks, with an abundance of low branches to remove weighed down by heavy leaves and even some fruits or nuts.

With the peak nesting season now over, I’ve also been able to get on top of my planned tree works such as removing dead or damaged trees which are safer to fell rather than leave to fall on their own accord.

However, not all trees are kind enough to give us warning before falling over, with one or two trees seeming to randomly give up this month.

This can be down to a number of factors such as the dry weather, erosion from boat traffic or the added weight of water during a summer downpour.

This is one of the reasons my colleagues and I work on a rota system, enabling us to work together and respond to incidents such as fallen trees quickly to keep the towpath and navigation open.

We even had some mechanical assistance from the maintenance team and their floating excavator, Hoe, when a tree fell down near Send, which thankfully saved a few hours of hand winching.

If you have been walking or boating downstream of Stoke Lock lately you may also have noticed that Guildford Borough Council has been carrying out a large amount of tree work on the belt of willow trees at the back of the towpath.

This is a really nice project which involves removing a large number of trees which will not only help link the river and towpath with the Riverside Nature Park but also let more light in, benefiting the diversity of plant species below.

At the same time the working party has been pollarding a number of the remaining trees which will eventually succeed the veteran willow pollards that are reaching the end of their life on the towpath.

Timber on Stoke lock side.

For those of you who didn’t see the work taking place you may also be interested to hear that the timber produced was cut into lengths and removed from site by boat, and then stacked at Stoke Lock, from where it was collected for woodchip.

This was a fantastic process to watch as it really felt like we were a “working” navigation again and it demonstrated to me just what a clever idea it was back way back in 1653 to adapt the river for cargo.

Finally for this month I just wanted to mention the work we’ve been doing to honour the centenary of the end of the First World War. We decided that it was important to pay homage to those who served and died for us in a respectful and thought provoking way.

Therefore, between now and November the 11 you will find a series of images and famous poetry quotations at each lock along the navigations, as well as commemorative wreaths made from barbed wire, complete with knitted woollen poppies, located on many of the bridges. \

Hopefully these will prove a reminder to everyone, young and old, of the terrible sacrifices that were made for our freedom.

Richard

07786 703 832

richard.cant@nationaltrust.org.uk

www.facebook.com/RiverWey