Chertsey Club Site, Surrey

       

Our last full day has been spent in a more domestic and sedate manner, not venturing too far from the camp and certainly not out into the city traffic.

While I dealt with a load of laundry, plodding back and forward to the laundry early in the morning, delighting in the antics of dozens of squirrel kittens more intent on play than gathering their breakfast, Chris washed the worst of the dirt from the car and caravan. Then refuelled with cups of coffee, we headed off on foot across Chertsey Bridge and down river along the towpath, part of the 180 mile Thames Valley National Trail, crossing Dumsey Meadow, twenty four acres of wildflower rich grassland, a hay fever sufferer’s nightmare, on past an assortment of houseboats at Ryepeck Moorings,  past an eclectic mix or grand residences at Shepperton and Pharoah Island until we reached the Shepperton Lock; a distance of only one and a half miles but one that felt a great deal further, especially on the return leg.

We lingered at the Lock and watched several leisure craft descend the lock and then others ascend; the workings of river and canal locks never fail to fascinate us. Today I was even given a task by the lock-keeper, to hand a leaflet to each of the two boats sitting in the lock.

The Shepperton Lock was constructed in 1831 at a junction of waterways in an area that was once a wet and swampy area, fed by the River Wey, the Bourne and numerous small streams. The next lock is six and a half miles downstream at Hampton Court, and while a walk along the riverside is quite wonderful, a return journey of sixteen miles from the Chertsey camp site would be out of the question.

We were fascinated by the houses on Pharoah Island and noted one under construction, the building materials having been deposited on the waterside edge of the plot in great sacks. While the houses here on the island have a charm, one does wonder how they will fare in the extreme weather events that the future is to bring.

We paused on our return to watch a rather strange raft affair being towed downstream and learned from a fellow walker that later today there was to be a raft race on the river, this year themed “Witches and Warlocks”. Our informant told us his daughter was to take part in the event, and while he was right behind her, he thought the contraption making its way down before us would surely win the prize for creativity. A witch on a broomstick dominated the craft and the sailors were all dressed in complementary colours. It was indeed a sight to behold.

Back at camp, we lunched then headed out to the local Sainsbury Superstore to stock up in readiness for our departure tomorrow, when we will head south west to our next camp in the New Forest. There are still places within driving distance we could visit from here, particularly a couple of National Trust properties just to the west of Guildford, but they will have to remain unexplored.