River Wey including failed weir and over bridge
I have been riding to the Royal Surrey Hospital one day a week for some time now and tend to ride on the road there and then along the River Wey back to Godalming.
The ride home on the tow path of the river Wey navigation / canal is a good way to relax after my time at the hospital.
Not keeping up with my local news I discovered on the ride before last that a weir had failed and pedestrian over bridge that I have ridden across countless times had collapsed while a lady had been stood at one end filming the rushing water. She had a narrow escape.
Collapsed weir and over bridge!
Millmead Lock with less water than usual!
I can still get on the tow path but have to loop around the obstruction and over a foot bridge (above) that is quite tricky to negotiate on a bike with steep steps with a return at both ends to the flat bit at the top. My old Oxygen emate with a unrestricted throttle helps!
My ride up river showing the water level much reduced,
and the shuttering to brace the banks exposed and the banks probably much more prone to erosion and collapse without the water pressure.
Bridge for The North Downs Way with a sandy beach used by children and bathers in the summer with the more foolhardy teenagers jumping off the bridge (not recommended)
This is what my kids and I climbed up opposite the beach in the last picture to see the ruin of St Catherine's Chapel at the top and named the "The Sandy Bank" by my kids and I. We left our bikes locked together at the bottom.
And for you rail enthusiasts this box girder bridge carries trains across the river Wey on their journey to Redhill after leaving Guildford and turning left at Shalford Railway Junction.
And with that, the camera was put away and I continued my picturesque ride to Godalming. Very relaxing and peaceful, quite literally just what the doctor ordered.