Friday 11th May
In bright and breezy conditions this morning we set off (not too early) to continue our journey on the Wey. However, this journey was somewhat curtailed. We arrived at Pyrford Lock, about 3/4 of a mile downstream of Walsham Flood Gates, to find a notice informing us that no navigation was allowed beyond that point due to flooding. We had only come 2.5 miles and not done a single lock!
Fortunately there are plenty of moorings here (mostly outside The Anchor pub!) so, as we had no choice, we moored up for the day. We discovered that the flood gates at Walsham had already been locked yesterday as well so, as it had rained hard again yesterday, we may be here some time!
To get George to go for a walk we first had to get him past the pub, which proved a bit difficult but we managed to persuade him. We went along the towpath for about 20 minutes (not a great distance though) then he wanted to come back. We sat outside the pub and he had a lovely lay in the sun (one of his favourite pastimes) on the decking.
We had been at the pub about an hour when Barry arrived closely followed by Barbara and Kizzy, who were then also followed (unusually) by Mac! As George and Kizzy have a healthy disregard for each other I put George on the boat where he promptly fell asleep on his cushion (another of his favourite pastimes). Mac stayed for a little while but he didn’t really like all the hub bub so he went back to his boat too and indulged in one of his favourite pastimes – barking at the cyclists!
We had a pleasant time at the pub – Ken and I exceeded the stated dose of Tanglefoot (we had a head start on the others!), Barbara said her brandy and coke tasted a bit strange but she drank it anyway and Barry’s second pint looked like soup but he also drank it anyway!
After a cup of tea and the last bit of the fruitcake Barbara made us we have been a bit useful this afternoon, Ken has prepared tomorow’s dinner and I have hoovered up the mud and grass we deposited every where indoors yesterday. I was going to clean the outside of the boat as well but got distracted by a couple who were passing and stopped for a chat, shame. If we have to stay here tomorrow maybe I’ll do it then.
