There are so many places within good walking distance of Pyrford on the River Wey that we have decided to visit them on foot as we know that mooring along the banks is not that easy.
The weather since we've been in the south east has been warm if rather windy but no rain at all; the towpaths are in excellent condition but very dusty as you can imagine.
The late evening sun (20:15) on the trees opposite our mooring turned the leaves gold!
8 in the morning looking back from our mooring outside the Anchor Hotel ...
... The wash from passing boats have pulled out the front pins of this boat moored just outside the entrance to Pyrford Marina ...
... and there is a 60 x 12.5 wide beam over the other side of the winding hole (turning point for boats).
Off for a walk - interesting footpath off the towpath leads us to a wooden bridge, this white one a few yards away appears to lead onto the golf course and on to the club house.
I told George that he wouldn't see the fairies in the day time, but he still had to have a look inside!
... it certainly was a fairly glen!
From my satnav I could see that we were heading towards RHS Whisley and thought that we had arrived ...
... because this garden over the fence was so beautiful, large and well kept ...
... it turned out to be the garden of Millwater - a huge house!
Another lovely building - I can't believe that this is one family home, but you never know ...
... the original Ockham Mill.
Once we'd realised that the Royal Horticulture Gardens were too far to walk today we turned back to the towpath to continue our planned walk ...
... Pyrford Place, an Elizabethan summerhouse ... as the plaque says John Donne lived here - check out the wikipedia website ..
... he was a most interesting character mixing with the great, good and not so good of his era ...
Narrowboat Tin Tin coming under the footbridge at Walsham Lock ...
... Walsham Gates are part of the River Wey's flood system and are usually left open.
As the notice states ...
... the lock sides are turf - I like this picture with it's reflection in the water and the poppy in the foreground....
... note the old style vertical paddles - lift the post with the two handles and place the pin in the appropriate hole to keep the paddles open.
Maintenance is being carried out today. Graham (right) and John told us a little of the history of the workings ...
... the shiny metal 'bit' (no engineer me!) are the very newest electronic methods of controlling the flow of water and they are mounted on the stanchions of the older, now obsolete fittings erected in 1931. Graham informed us that he and John work for the Environment Agency and they look after the machinery that operates the weirs on the Rivers Wey and Thames, whilst the lock keepers actually operate the weirs.
A line of cogs which operated the sluices to the weir originally but now appear to be left open all the time as it was below here that the water was rushing by ...
... supplied by Jesse Stone in 1884! This part of the weir operation is controlled by the National Trust.
Graham (right) and John were most informative and we enjoyed chatting to them ...
... but on with our walk - the area surrounding this part of the river is rough and wild ...
... and lovely!
We couldn't believe that this tree split in so many places was still living!
Cattle in the field on the other side ...
... with young calves.
Newark Priory ...
... unfortunately no longer accessible to visitors ...
... is situated close to Newark Lock.
Very interesting - double click to open to full size for reading!
The National Trust - Towing Path - Open to the public (subject to the byelaws on the back of this notice) ...
... for which you would need a step ladder, a magnifying glass and an hour to spare to read!
Picnic time on the bank - George chatting to Mark (our son) on the phone ...
... that will be Papercourt Lock in the distance - our destination for today's trek.
Graham (at that weir) suggested the Seven Stars public house as a good place to stop - so here we are in the garden - a good pint served here so I'm told by George - Fullers London Pride - perfect temperature - very tasty! From the pub it was a short walk over the field to ...
... Papercourt lock and keepers cottage ...
... 'the lock that moved' I've tried 'googling' this but cannot find out anything - does anyone know why or when it moved?
Very pretty indeed - Locking looks ok, depending on how much water is cascading down the weir ...
... looking from above the weir over the lock towards the footbridge ...
... over which we cross and see a narrowboat moored - not on the main channel - how does he get here?
We are on our way back and those cows are now lying across the towpath ....
... we look straight ahead and pretend we can't see them! The division in the river you can see in this picture is how that boat arrives at its mooring (on the right) ...
... the cows just lift their heads and lazily watch us!
Back to the spot where we had our picnic and George is measuring the depth to see if we can moor here for the night on Monday ...
... the depth is fine and anyway there's another suitable place a hundred yards or so away!
Swans still building a nest I think as there is no sign of any eggs yet!
And what a fantastic picture to end with - a beautiful Damselfly.
A great walk - about 5.5 mile round trip and worth every step!
I really enjoyed the walk...healthy and envigorating, I'm sure. And I always think of Surrey as being tame, mock-tudor commuter-land! Some great pix. Looks lovely. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures Carol, you are in an area of SSSI there, well most of that river is.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they moved the lock (The National Trust did) so they could build that tumbling weir to manage the waterflow better.
There is some interesting stuff here about the lock keepers cottage and where it should or should not have been built!
http://www.weyriver.co.uk/theriver/wey_nav_3.htm
yeractual - glad you like the pics - we are live aboard continual cruisers so our holiday is lasting so much longer than a week!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue - thanks for the info - I'll check that website out now. Been following your progress and making note of the good moorings you're using for our next step. Stay well.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely brilliant post, good pictures and acount of what you did etc, what more can one say except you lucky sods !! :0)
ReplyDeleteI looked up Papercourt lock and found some interesting facts on it, only to find my mother got in there first! haha!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great website if you get a chance to look at it Carol.....cant wait to visit Mum when she gets to where you are, it looks so beautiful!
Keep well both of you....
Wendie xx