#RiverWeyNavigation Narrowboating - the twins 40th birthday cruise.

Amazingly my twin boys are now 40. As part of celebrating this birthday milestone we agreed a family break together. The solution - a long weekend narrowboating. This is something we have done together before - but about 35 years ago! On that occasion it was with my late and dear parents - the twins grandparents. I have very fond memories of that trip - my dad at the helm - my mum loving being with her 3 little grandchildren. (mum described it as the best holiday she ever had). Victoria and the boys have the odd few memories - but of course Rich was not even born.

Anyway the trip we planned. The River Wey. We hired 2 narrowboats. We could have hired just 1 - the longest will sleep 8 - 10. However we felt there would be more fun and more interesting having two smaller boats. George was captain of Gold Crest and my son in law Phil skipper of Alder - each with a crew of 3 lol! That is Phil and Vic and my two granddaughters and George and Laura and me and James. Youngest sprog Rich is still in Oz and won't be back until early June. Rich and partner Andy were missed of course but they were there in spirit.

So of the trip. The River Wey. The navigation is just over 20 miles. Starts from Farncombe nr Godalming in Surrey and runs to Weybridge to join the Thames. (We however turned around at Pyrford.)

The River Wey Navigation is small scale compared to some of the rivers and canals that form the national Inland Waterways network but it has a lot of merits especially early season. It was ideal for us - quiet and peaceful but with a good number of self managed locks to keep us busy and plenty of bends in the River Wey to offer a steering challenge!

Narrowboating has lots to offer. We had a great time - here are a few thoughts in no particular order :

• Narrowboats are narrow -ha! but they are kitted out well and are comfortable if you get organised. Unlike being on the sea there is no rocking - the boats are a very stable platform.
• The nature of narrow boating is slow and peaceful and take you through some lovely countryside. You have the potential to see a lot of nature - birds especially. The River Wey stretch we were on is looked after by the National Trust.
• However narrow boating is not without its challenges and taking a boat(s) through a lock needs some skill - and some physicality. Teamwork is important.
• Steering a narrowboat offers a challenge too. True speeds are slow but Gold Crest was 57 ft long. Rules of the road on inland waterways is you keep to the right when passing - but in most cases depths are shallow and the middle is where you mainly want to be. It is inevitable you will go aground at some point - but no matter. The boats are robust and flat bottomed. With some pushing and heaving and a burst of revs the only thing that might be damaged is a bit of pride lol!
• Narrowboating is for everyone. There are so many jobs to do. Perhaps the most nerve wracking is the steering but confidence builds quickly and eventually everyone mastered it. It is a fantastic memory sat with my grand daughters (and daughter) as they steered the boat. They loved it and they did so well.
• The locks were brilliant fun. There are a number of jobs to do and care is needed because there are some heavy forces at play with the 2 boats in the lock at the same time - the weight of the lock gates and the force of the water when it is being drained or topped up. Vic and Laura loved the challenge and formed an ace team - like watching a F1 tyre change it was so smooth! There was a brilliant moment when we came back through the lock at Guildford. People are always fascinated watching the boats and especially the boats going through the locks. Sunday was a lovely day - but not that many boats moving around as it was still early season. When we get to the lock it is surrounded by onlookers - lots of children too. Vic and Laura said they felt like performers - anxious not to make a mess of things in front of their audience. Anyway it went well. We exited with dignity with plenty of waving from our admirers - lol!
• I don't know that much about it but there is a national Inland Waterways network and it is possible to cruise for miles across the country. This would be a lovely thing to do one day - maybe when I am old - ha!

The long weekend was a huge success. We were lucky with the weather. Our family are all experienced campers - so life on a narrowboat presented no hardship - it was relatively luxurious! The two boat approach worked so well. Crews regularly interchanged and the benefit of two boats is there is double the tasks to do so everyone has an opportunity to get involved which they loved doing. There was plenty of room for all of us on one boat to share meals. George and Laura cooked dinner one night and Phil and Vic on the other.

For the twins birthday we had dinner and a tremendous pub called the Britannia at Guildford and on the way back we visited The Wey at Guildford. It definitely was not a booze cruise but we had a great time.

One other thing - young children on narrowboats. Annabelle and Ayla are now 10 and 8. They really thrived. The girls listened to what they were told about safety - the main one is not so much the water (although care in the locks is essential for everyone.) but the potential to be squeezed or jammed between heavy slow moving boats and the bank - so special care getting on and off.

Narrowboating is great fun. Perfect for families if they get their act together. It was a great pleasure. We all got so much from it. To the next time xxx

Here are a few photos :

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From wiki

Wey and Godalming Navigations

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River Wey and Godalming Navigations
Catteshall Lock, the southernmost lock on the Navigations at Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey.
Specifications
Length	19.5 miles (31.4 km)
Maximum boat length	73 ft 6 in (22.40 m)
Maximum boat beam	13 ft 10.5 in (4.23 m)
Locks	16
Status	open
Navigation authority	National Trust
History
Principal engineer	Sir Richard Weston
Other engineer(s)	John Smeaton
Construction began	1651
Date of first use	1653
Date extended	1764
Geography
Start point	River Thames
End point	Godalming (originally Guildford)
Connects to	Basingstoke Canal Wey and Arun Junction Canal

hide v t e Wey and Godalming Navigations
Legend
River Thames  downstream  Shepperton Lock Junction with the Thames Stop lock & Whittet's sub-aits and ait 1 Thames Lock Ham Haw Mill Ham Court weir  A317  Weybridge Road Addlestone Road & Wey Bridge 2 Weybridge Town Lock Black Boys Bridge Liberty Mill Chertsey link line 3 Coxes Lock New Haw Wharf  A318  Byfleet Road 4 New Haw Lock  M25  Basingstoke Canal Rive Ditch South West Main Line  A245  Parvis Road Pyrford Basin, Byfleet Mill Wisley Lane 5 Pyrford Lock,  M25  6 Walsham Gates Hoe Stream Newark Priory (walls) Abbey Stream 7 Newark Lock & mill  B367  Newark Lane 8 Papercourt Lock Footpath 50  A247  Send Road Cartbridge Wharf Gresham Mill, Broad Mead Cut weir Footpath 49A 9 Worsfold Gates 10 Triggs Lock Broad Oak Bridge 11 Bowers Lock and mill Clay Lane Bowers Lane Slyfield sewage works 12 Stoke Lock and mill  A320  Woking Road  A3  Guildford by-pass  A25  Woodbridge Road New Guildford line Dapdune Bridge Dapdune Wharf Walnut Bridge  A322  Bridge Street Onslow Street Guildford Wharf Town Bridge Artington Mill St Nicholas and St Mary's churches Town Mill, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre 13 Millmead Lock & water works Tumbling Bay weir and fish ladder Millbrook footbridge Guildford Rowing Club Former ferry crossing North Downs Way National Trail St Catherine's hill & chapel walls River Tillingbourne 14 St Catherines Lock North Downs Line  A248  Broadford Road Stonebridge Wharf Wey and Arun Canal/Cranleigh Waters Cranleigh line Unstead Woods Downslink Bridge 15 Unstead Lock Tilthams Corner Road Trowers Bridge Hell Ditch Catteshall Road 16 Catteshall Lock Godalming Wharf Barkhouse Cut End of navigable section  A3100  Bridge Road

The River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation together provide a 20-mile (32 km) continuous navigable route from the River Thames near Weybridge via Guildford to Godalming (commonly called the Wey Navigation). Both waterways are in Surrey and are owned by the National Trust. The River Wey Navigation connects to the Basingstoke Canal at West Byfleet, and the Godalming Navigation to the Wey and Arun Canal near Shalford. The Navigations consist of both man-made canal cuts and adapted (dredged and straightened) parts of the River Wey.

The Wey was one of the first rivers in England to be made navigable; the River Wey Navigation opened in 1653, with 12 locks between Weybridge and Guildford, and the Godalming Navigation, with a further four locks, was completed in 1764. Commercial traffic ceased as late as 1983 and the Wey Navigation and the Godalming Navigations were donated to the National Trust in 1964 and 1968 respectively.