Towards the end of last year Julie Batt asked me if I would be up for a week on a narrow boat, not giving it much thought I said yes. As we approached the New Year it became certain that we were going. The motley crew would be Jo Ayshford, Julie Batt, Alison Lock, myself and for one night Jackie Benham. At the AGM I was greeted by Jo saying only 52 more sleeps! I then realized it was realality and what had I let myself in for!!

The 26^th of May was the date for our trip. So on the Thursday before we met at the club to watch a DVD supplied by the boat company. This caused much laughter and I don’t think we learnt a lot! We then decided who was going to bring what. First on our list was the important stuff like drink (the alcoholic type that is). Then came a bit of food and a few other bits and pieces.

The weather for April and May had been fairly good, but not on the day our trip was to start. We were due to board our boat the Guildford Emperor at 2.30pm and we met just before this with our bags, food etc. Narrow boats are just that, narrow. Our boat had all mod cons, if a bit dated, but we were soon settled in. After a brief tuition which involved a bit of punting, always tie the front of the boat at a lock especially when by a weir! We were on our way, wind in our hair and rain in our face. Jo was designated as the captain, Alison and Julie were on lock duty and I was Jo’s assistant. 62 feet long and you can’t see the front what had we let ourselves in for?

We had a table booked at Frankie and Benny’s for dinner so it was not a too ambitious start to our trip, just to B&Q were we moored. This was after those who were steering gave a boat or two a sailors kiss or as some would say a bit of a bash! No damage done though. Time for a bottle or two of champagne and then some Pimms. A quick wash and brush and it was time for dinner. Fed and watered we headed back to our new home and settled in for the night, a few drinks and a laugh over the days events.

Tuesday morning we were up about 8am and Alison made tea, just as Pat had shown her. With breakfast out of the way Julie and Alison went to B&Q to get us all some gloves to handle the ropes with (pink gloves). Then we were on our way again off along the Wey, next stop Stoke Lock. Julie and Alison had worked out exactly how they were going to do this and all went like clockwork. Off we went again looking forward to the next lock. The water in the Wey was now very high, level with the top of the banks and moving fairly fast. Bowers Lock came into view and we were all ready for action. We tied up and went to “walk the section”. An other boat had recently gone through and had got stuck across the corner just after the lock. It was well and truly stuck; this meant that we could not go through the lock. So we offered our help and tried to pull them round with their ropes and push with our poles but they were stuck fast. Along came a Wey navigation man to help and then a few more but still the boat would not budge. In the end a Land Rover was called for, this and some pushing, finally freed the boat. Then as the river was in flood a sign went on the lock to say “dangerous conditions do not proceed”. We were going to be here for the night.

Julie’s son Carl arrived to see how we were doing and was soon off to get us some supplies like milk. We also had a visit from Louise, a friend of Julie and her two boys Josh and Sebastian on their bikes, Pimms o’clock! For dinner we walked to a pub in Bupham and had a nice meal. At about 9pm Gary Benham arrived to take Jackie home as she had to work the next day. We talked over the day’s event, had some liquid refreshment and retired to bed. Thunder and lightning and more rain over night, very loud under a metal roof!

Wednesday morning the river was still very high and flowing fast and we thought we might have to spend another day moored. Fortunately the first Wey navigation man arrived while we were having breakfast and said we could be on our way! Claire Smith was joining us for the day and was dropped off by Shaun. So it was on with the pink gloves and time to enter Bowers Lock and then to navigate the sharp right hand bend that had caught the other boat out the day before. With Jo at the helm we had no problem.

Now we had a nice cruise along the Wey which has many more tight bends than I thought it would but the scenery was beautiful. We saw a lot of ducklings and some cygnets and it really felt as if we were away from it all. So we meandered along until we came to Triggs Lock. It was fairly busy here and with only one place to moor our boat Jo did a fantastic job of parallel parking which impressed us all. After helping a few other boats through, it was our turn and we now had locks down to a fine art, we shared this one with Captain Pugwash (that’s what we called him). We let the other boat through first and were soon on our way heading for Worsfold Gates. Here we came across a large group of young canoeists blocking our way, this caused a bit of drifting, reversing and general testing of steering! Now it was on to Paper Court Lock, we may make it to Pyrford after all. Back to cruising along the river and soon we were passing the house of Julie’s friend who had paid us a visit yesterday.

Next stop was Paper Court Lock this was a very pretty place. There seemed to be some sort of hold up here and we had to hammer our metal pegs into the ground to tie up to. Despite the river being in flood the Wey Navigation people had managed to let too much water out through the sluice gates down stream. This meant that there was not enough water in the lock and the two boats that were in the lock struggled to get out. Another boat was coming up the lock and two young ladies were opening the locks sluice gates, unfortunately they did it much too quickly and as the water rushed in it nearly knocked the lady off the boat. Also their boat was flooded, washing their dog all the way from one end to the other! After bailing out, it was about knee deep, the dog was not too keen to get back on board, poor thing. We then helped Captain Pugwash again who owned his own boat but he grounded out in the lock and had to come back up and reverse out. The lock was now closed and this was going to be as far as we would be able to go. It was decided that now would be a good time for lunch and of course a jug of Pimms!

After lunch we headed back towards Send and we parked up for the night at the end of Louise’s garden. Dinner tonight was going to be at the New Inn and we were being joined by our other halves, apart from Jo as Gordon was working. Shaun also joined us as he would be taking Claire home later on. We had such a laugh as we recounted our trip so far. We could tell by the looks on the boys faces that a lot of what we thought was funny were “you had to be there” moments and I think we may have been enjoying ourselves a bit too much for some of the other people in the pub as they all seemed to move away!

Thursday morning was actually sunny! Alison and Julie went off to get some supplies and by about eleven we had read the papers while sitting in the sun and it was time to get going. So back through Worsfold Gates which had been shut and had to be opened, nothing tricky, and no canoeists this time. On to Triggs Lock and then a steady journey on towards Bowers Lock. The rain set in again and out came the stunning wet weather gear, mine being bright yellow with a big Mickey Mouse on the back! A stop for lunch and a top up with water then we were heading for Guildford. What had taken two and a half days with enforced stops took us only one day in normal conditions and we did wonder how far we would have got had we had those better conditions, but would we have laughed as much?

With Stoke Lock and then Millmead Lock behind us we passed Guildford Boathouse and headed for St Catherine’s where the river is wide enough to turn our boat around. We then moored up, hammering in the metal pegs again. Julie’s father asked to see our home on the Wey! He was brought along by Pete and had a look around what had been our home for the last few days. We supplied them with some liquid refreshments and Pete, Julies dad, then told us some amusing stories, really embarrassing Julie! Our last meal was at the Waterside and was just the four of us. We had an excellent meal here and would recommend it to anyone. More laughter and we headed off for our last night on the river. At some point it seemed a good idea to see if we could bowl a water melon the whole length of the inside of our cabin, this game ended when our melon developed a split! A pineapple just wasn’t up to the job.

Friday time to pack and have a clean up. Just after 9am we headed to the boathouse. Having turned around last night we thought we would just have to park up, but no we were sent off to turn round by the lock. This was to be our last maneuver and due to a fallen tree our most difficult, although it caused some amusement for the bystanders. Looking back it was funny, although at the time it was pretty stressful!

If any of you want to spend a few days with some good friends and spend nearly all your time laughing this is the way to do it. Your sides will ache and you will have many memories to share. I’m very grateful to have been asked along and would recommend it to anyone.

Rebecca Brockman.