A half day

 During the difficult months back in the Spring David and I had one of those 'what the hell moments' and booked ourselves tickets to see Professor Alice Roberts over in Guildford. Time has flown by and before we knew it there we were on the day itself. TYM lives over that way and with a shedload of leave to use or lose [he's been working very long hours over the summer] he took a well earned half day. Challenging weather ie heavy rain and Mondays can be a tricky combination, but we sussed it in the end and headed down to the National Trust's Dapdune Wharf.

The river Wey was made navigable between Guildford and the Thames in London way back in the 1650s. Quite a feat of engineering with 12 locks along the 15 mile route and all a good 100 years before the canals were dug in the Midlands. This particular stretch of water took flat bottomed barges which traded up until 1958 and would have been used to transport all sorts up into the city. There was a huge spike in demand for timber following the Great Fire in 1666. By the later 19th century Dapdune wharf was in the ownership of the Stevens family. They had 11 barges built for them between 1909 and 1940 of which Reliance pictured below is the sole remaining example.

These barges could carry 80-85 tonnes per trip and were pulled by horses. Sadly Reliance met a rather ignominious when she hit a bridge on the Thames and sank. Eventually she ended up rotting on the mudflats at Leigh-On-Sea from where she was rescued and restored by the NT back at her original Dapdune home where she'd been constructed back in 1931-2. Nowadays you can go round inside, but the ceilings are low so you need to duck down and living conditions were cramped. The bulk of the boat space was needed for its cargo.

Looking at those blue skies it seems hard to believe that it had been bucketing down only a few minutes before and we'd arrived on site looking like drowned rats! Nothing that a quick visit to the cafe and a restorative coffee couldn't sort out. Thankfully the weather held for the rest of our time there.

It's only a small place, but interesting nevertheless. TYM is not a member of the NT, but, as it's alongside the river with public access, there's no charge [except parking]. 

TYM really enjoyed his little break, but he did say it felt a bit like he was playing truant😄. We had a marvellous time with Prof Roberts later too. We don't go out that often together as a family, but it's always a good time when we do.

Arilx