Walton-on-Thames to Pyrford

Mon 14^th April

Dawn at Walton

Late on Sunday evening we felt the boat was resting at an angle so James slackened off the ropes and pushed the boat out a bit more away from the bank. That seemed to do the trick. This was a very peaceful mooring.

In the morning we cruised gently up stream for twenty minutes and moored up near the Anglers at Walton. Unusually, there was plenty of mooring space. We walked into the town, first going to see the old manor house which is hidden away behind other buildings.

Manor House, Walton-on-Thames

In the town, we discovered that Aldi had closed and M&S Food had opened in its place. We were attracted by a lovely cherry tree in the churchyard next door and then noticed that the church was open, and we went inside to look around.

Cherry blossom

St Mary’s Church, Walton-on-Thames

A poem on a pillar near the pulpit

Apart from a few groceries, we were looking for a suitable planter in which to put some plants we had bought. We tried Wilko and Homebase and some other places, but couldn’t find anything suitable. When we arrived back at the boat, we saw that there was another boat behind us now, and they had some planters just like the ones we were looking for. They said they had bought them online as they couldn’t find any in the shops.

Moored by the Anglers

We moved off and cruised under Walton Bridge and up the old course of the river via Shepperton. We noticed that the Red Lion had at last renewed the pub moorings. This is a pub we used to visit occasionally by boat from Weybridge, but the previous moorings had collapsed.

Walton Bridge

Red Lion and the new moorings

We moored at Shepperton on what is known as Lady Lindsay’s Lawn, a pleasant grassy area of river frontage backed by large trees and woodland. Parakeets are always to be found here. We were the only boat here until late afternoon when a large white cruiser moored up for the night a little way behind us.

Lady Lindsay’s Lawn

We saw on the TV the sad news that Notre Dame cathedral in Paris had caught fire.

0 locks, 2 miles.   Dep 0940, arr 1000 Walton. Dep 1315 arr 1350 Shepperton

Tue 16^th April

We had a leisurely departure and cruised past Shepperton Manor and round to Shepperton Lock to use the facilities. We reversed onto the lock landing so that the lock keeper would know that we were not waiting for the lock. We disposed of rubbish and emptied a cassette.

Shepperton Manor

Shepperton Lock

We moved off across the Shepperton weir stream into the Wey. As we did so, a boat was just coming out, so we thought the lock would be in our favour. Wrong! Another boat, Puddleducks, had just gone in before us, and the Pound Lock gate was closed.

We tied up to the narrow iron jetty, and James went to find Steve, the Lock keeper for today. We paid for our 21 day licence (they don’t offer a 14 day one), and with our National Trust discount it came to £99.00.  The lock here is in two parts: the Pound Lock raises the water level enough to get into the Thames Lock, like a staircase pair.

Pound Lock

Thames Lock

Puddleducks had moored just above Thames Lock, and was filling his water tank using a water carrier, as he had missed the tap further back in the Pound Lock, where he could have used a hose.

On the Wey we always tie a stern line to the yellow bollard at the back of the lock, and Hazel in the bows has a line round another bollard forward of the bows, and takes up the slack as the boat rises. We don’t normally need to use ropes in locks elsewhere on the system, but the turbulence means it is necessary on the Wey, when going up.

We moored halfway between Thames Lock and Town Lock, where there is some metal shuttering on the bank, and deep water.

We went into Weybridge and we made our annual visit to our tenants in our house at Portmore Quays. We went shopping, looking for items to adorn hats for Easter. James bought a hat in a charity shop and we found a few artificial flowers and small animals for decoration.

As we were returning to the boat we had a call from Jasmin to say she had arrived in the car park we had suggested, and we met her and Claudia, our two granddaughters, and led them to the boat. It was good to catch up with them about their time at university. We went to the new pizza and pasta place, Cantina 41, that is owned and run by our tenants. In fact, just as we had finished, Ali came in and greeted us again.

Back to the boat for final farewells to Jasmin and Claudia, before they left to return to Leatherhead in Jasmin’s car.

Claudia, Jasmin, Hazel

2 locks, 1 mile. Dep 1045, arr 1210.

Wed 17^th April

Our Weybridge mooring

A leisurely morning with Hazel doing a bit of shopping in Morrison’s before we set off. James said hello to Weybridge resident Raymond Spary who was out walking his dog. 

Graham and Sheila arrived and we caught up with some news. Graham had to leave us as he was going to watch his grandson play football. Sheila remained on board for the trip to Pyrford.

Graham and Sheila

We set off upstream and were soon at Town Lock, in front of our house. This involved a turn sharper than a right angle from the river into the canal section. James got off to set the lock, which was against us because Puddleducks had come through earlier. James signalled for Hazel to bring the boat in.

Turning into Town Lock (Our house 2^nd from right out of six)

On the Wey we always tie a stern line to the yellow bollard at the back of the lock, and Hazel in the bows has a line round another bollard forward of the bows, and takes up the slack as the boat rises. We don’t normally need to use ropes in locks elsewhere on the system, but the turbulence means it is necessary on the Wey, when going up.

Leaving the lock, we passed our old mooring, and came to the Pelican, where we saw Puddleducks moored.

The Pelican

Puddleducks

After the line of moored boats, we arrived at Coxes Mill and Lock, one of the more interesting buildings on the Wey. The lock was in our favour. The custom on the Wey is to leave the locks gates open with paddles down when leaving the lock. This means that if a lock is in your favour, you can take the boat straight in without having to stop and open gates.

Passing Coxes Mill and into Coxes Lock

Canada Geese chicks 

New Haw Lock was also in our favour, but we needed to wait for a National Trust work boat operated by Steve, who had been our lock keeper at Thames Lock yesterday. His team were painting the lock gates. On the lower gates the black was wet, and the white was dry. It was the opposite on the top gates.

Above New Haw lock there is another long line of moored boats, leading to the place where the M25 crosses over. Just here we noticed that a new elsan point had been installed. There was plenty of graffiti under the M25.

M25 Graffiti

Arriving at Byfleet Boat Club we spotted Ruby Tuesday, the boat we had planned to cruise the tide with from Brentford to Teddington. We also saw Mike on Paper Moon as we passed. We didn’t stop at TLC for our post, as we would be there again tomorrow for the folk club in Byfleet.

Ruby Tuesday at Byfleet Boat Club

We continued past the noisy M25 section, until we neared Pyrford, where it was quieter. We saw a heron who was unperturbed by the boat going past. They usually fly on ahead in panic.

Confident Heron

We moored by the Anchor, having turned around in the marina entrance. We had a light snack before going for a walk to Walsham Weir and back, about a mile each way. We might have taken a different route back, but the footpath we could have used had been closed.

Walsham Weir paddle gear

Hazel and Sheila at Walsham Weir

Interesting boat painting ideas

Graham arrived after the football had finished, and we had tea on board before going for a pleasant meal at the pub.

Moored by the Anchor at Pyrford

3 locks, 4 miles.  Dep 1115, arr 1330.

Next: Back to Byfleet for the Anchor Folk Club tomorrow, then up to Godalming by Sunday. We have a full social programme going on this week, with visitors almost every day.