We are on our Wey

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." ~Rabindranath Tagore

   After a quiet night falling asleep to rain on the roof, we woke to a morning of uncertain weather; the world washed new and in the process of change from the bellicose cold, drizzly weeks leading us this far we faced a day in which the winds were changing direction, the clouds lifted, changing from grey to white, and the temperature was rising.
   After a a hot cuppa we took a walk from our mooring on D'Oyly Carte Island over to Weybridge to look at the first lock on the River Wey. 

Behind our boat across the river is Shepperton. Also behind our boat on the towpath is...

...this bell, which is what the folks of Weybridge and D'Oyley Carte Island ring when they want a ride to Shepperton. Ring the bell...

and the Shepperton Ferry comes over and picks you up and delivers you across the Thames. £2.00 each way and £2.50 for a bike.

The Surrey Fire Department Water Rescue Squad took time while the rains let up to practice water rescue near the weir.

Man overboard!

This tug is pulling a long working barge loaded with heavy equipment. Both have just come down through Shepperton lock...

...and past us on their way to the next job.

    On the canals it is possible to have stretches of time and space where not a whole lot happens, depending on where one is moored and the time of year. By contrast on a river there is always something happening. By their nature the water is always moving somewhere, carrying things along, and so Amateur Rowing Club were setting up for a row on the river.

A final moment of instruction from the leader...

and off they go!

We passed the Fire Crew's rig parked and waiting for them to return from their water rescue drill.

Off to a very unassuming right passed this pub is the Church Walk--the Weybridge town public footpath. All righty then..off we go to see where it leads.

Once more I find myself walking along a bijou walkway between brick walls with doors to people's homes and gardens built in. I really do feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland. "Through this door?" Well perhaps not today.

Les strolls on ahead. Although he has never been on Church Walk before, a public path is as instinctive to him as roast on Sunday or a pint in a pub.

Bless is heart, Dear Sir is patiently waiting for his American wife to stop shooting a thousand pictures of brick walls and catch up!

This is the door to Lantern Cottage garage! The American thinks, "How quaint." The Englishman thinks, "Come on woman--it's a door!"

Across a lane and the Church Walk public Footpath continues...

I am learning that all villages in the UK have some kind of public right of way or footpath--a system of shortcuts which is older than the houses that press in on each side as we walk.

Every postage stamp size front garden has a touch of whimsy or a bit of green elegance.

Soon enough we come to an intersection of path and lane. We are turning right and following the pathway...

A row of narrow cottages present white washed faces with Wisteria fringes.

Looking back at the Lilliputian lane!

This very lovely end cottage just before the footbridge to Wittets Ait (Island). If you owned it you could live here now. It is for sale for £399,999.

Looking back across the footbridge to the side wall of the end cottage for sale.

Standing on the footbridge looking over at the back gardens of the houses which front the Church Walk footpath. One of those is for sale as well. What a lovely place to live.

The end of the footbridge and a green walled path leads to the only road on this island.

The keyhole view back toward the footbridge. For me this is magical! Were I a child in England I would be out playing along all these small, hidden, green paths allowing my imagination to lead me on to explore and wonder.

This island is private owned but public access is required. There is only one road bridge on and off and one footbridge. The gated park is for folks to walk their dogs. The public has a right of way on this private island in order to access the path along the Rover Wey.

The Sky has lightened now, and a warm, western breeze is ruffling the leaves. I expect Mary Poppins to drop in any time with her parrot handled umbrella asking, "Where is tea!"

The path winds its way out from the small woodland and around a curved hedge...

and we spot a bulletin board ahead! The first lock onto the River Wey must be straight ahead.

Sure enough here we are in time to watch the lock keeper grab a mooring rope with his hooked gaff,  from the boat in the lock.

The heavy lock gates on the Wey have chains to hold them open and chains on the end one can pull to exert more force opening and shutting the gates.

The lock keeper lifts one paddle very slowly with a special River Wey Windlass. One can purchase these quite long, straight windlasses from the lock office. Our friends Sue and Ken Deveson on NB Cleddau lent us theirs.

   The lock keeper told us we could come through at 2 p.m.--they shut for lunch from noon-2. We should moor up outside the stop lock before Thames lock and fill out the paperwork for the license. Once can get a one week license, or pay daily. We opted for the three week license for £108. We wanted time to really enjoy the character of this river and the towns along its banks.
   Back on NB Valerie we ate lunch and readied for cruising: satellite dish folded down, we cast off and said goodbye to the Thames for now...

Into Cox's Lock--the first on the River Wey. We will share it with a holiday boat going back up river.

While the lock fills we marvel at the clever design of these balconies!

Looking back at Cox's Lock and the redeveloped Old mill, right. Built in 1776 it now houses lovely flats (apartments). You could live here in a 2 bedroom split level apartment for £250,000.

Off we go into the lush green unknown!

Onward to Shepperton Lock-The River Thames

"You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you." ~Heraclitus

   This blog will be mainly pictorial in order to catch up to where we are now. I will revisit Hampton Court Palace at a later date as I took over 800 pictures which need to be sorted, edited, and chosen for a post!
   We said goodbye to Dick and Judy from Michigan who were breasted up next to us and left Hampton Court on an overcast morning the end of May. It was unseasonably cold for spring over here and many of us were still wearing our winter gear and burning fires in wood stoves. While spring seemed to fail us, there was still a promise of summer to come and Les and I were on our way at last to D'Oyly Carte Island near Shepperton Lock. From there one can access the River Wey--part of the Wey and Godalming navigation owned by the National Trust.
   Some time shortly after I found narrow boats and British canals--before Les and I met--I downloaded Google Earth to my computer and commenced mapping every navigable canal and river on Britain: every beginning, ending, bridge, lock--all of it. It took me over six months every night after work. I was obsessed by the beauty and ingenuity inherent in a system 250 or more years old which called to something in my soul. The River Wey was the last one I mapped and my excitement at seeing it for real was hard to contain.

An early start carried us past the trip boat landings for Hampton Court Palace on a cold, dark, overcast morning.

A look back at what was for me a fairy tale visit to the 16th century--Hampton Court Palace recedes under the bridge.

Soon enough we reached Thames-side homes with boat houses...

...some residences where the boat moored outside is bigger than the house behind it!

And others where the house is considerably larger than the rubber launch outside.

Along the way one sees interesting things in yards. I love this home owner's alarm system--and sense of humor. A gorilla hides up on the front porch to the left. Presumably the mannequin dressed like a Lara Croft Tomb Raider and pointing her weapon over the boat is warning enough!

Some homes are quite modest, nevertheless one may be certain the houses here cost a minimum of £200,000 more than the very expensive cruiser moored out front.

You could buy this lovely Thames side home on Ditton Island for the paltry sum of £600,000.

I love the swirly mooring poles in front of this house.

Splendid! From here it really looks like your average subdivision--just replace the water with a lane. The greenery adds a bright spot to a grey day.

Gorgeous garden rooms surround this house which is perched on the end of an island.

We spot a section with lots of house boats. I like this pre-fab house with the round windows. A modest bit of floating home.

This house boat has fascinating scaffolding supporting canvas sheets for shade.

This one is covered in lattice--but where are the plants?

This house boat looks like a transplanted American mid-western farm house! G & T on the veranda anyone?

There are many islands dotting the entire length of the river Thames. The metal skirting on the edges make the ends of the islands appear to be the prows of large, flat barges.

We travel ever onward against the current, passing islands, large and small. It can be a job sometimes to figure out which way one is supposed to cruise: left, right, or center! Thank goodness for the Nicholsons Guidebook and the Thames Guide!

Bridges cross the gentle landscape and we cruise around the the bend and underneath...

past apartment buildings constructed to reflect a river side theme.

Whoa! VERY LARGE boat coming towards us!  Which way do we go??? Thankfully the bloke in the small barge near the bridge support waved us to the right. Whew!

Here we go loop-de-loo, here we go loop-de-lie...

Now what is this hanging out under the bridge?

It is a very cool elevator for undertaking bridge construction and repairs.

A view of the semi on the bridge and the entire pneumatic operated cage system.

The Thames is a very bsuy river. There is always something happening on the water or its banks. This construction crew is welding the steel frame for a new houseboat...

After a lock or two we spot a length of large boats "used as houses" which are moored along the Thames. I am fascinated by the windows on this one. I wonder if they slide open?

This wooden boat-house with a canvas shade outlined in tiny LED lights is beautiful. Very classy...

The oval floating home!

The basic cube house. Simples!!

...and suddenly one comes around a bend in the river and A breathtaking view affords one a "pinch me" moment!

The Thames meanders, widens, bends, loops back around itself in places, cutting islands from the bank side over the thousands of years it has flowed to the sea. We wander through channels between islands and join the larger river again.

Richard D'Oyly Carte produced Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas in the Victorian era. He bought an island between Shepperton and Weybridge in 1890 to use as an annex to his new Savoy Hotel but authorities refused to grant him a license so he built Eyot house there instead. The island is named after him.

Moored up at last! NB Valerie at rest against the out side of D'Oyly Carte Island. Out of the frame to the left is Shepperton Lock which takes one further up the River Thames towards Windsor.

This is the view in front of NB Valerie. To the right, outside the frame is the Thames river weir. The arm directly ahead is a loop of the Thames around an island. The "street" or river sign point to the left--the entrance to the River Wey.

The Environment Agency (EA) is in charge of the non-tidal Thames and sets the mooring charges here.

    We made it and just in time. The skies opened up and cold, thin rain poured down. We could see our breath! It was the 29th of May and Les lit a fire in the boat stove to keep us warm while I fixed steak, potatoes and salad for dinner. I love the sound of the rain while sitting in front of a fire. We were hoping though that the weather would finally turn a corner and roll out spring for us soon. Next post...Wandering around Weybridge.