camp report Waveney After an absence of 576 days, WRG Canal Camps finally returned on 31 July; our first report is from a week rebuilding Geldeston Lock... Anyway, twelve honourable WRGies agreed to star in the camp as long as they could achieve a negative indication to a test My last two camp reports for this location that involved sticking long ear-type cleaning (2018 and 2019) had film and music themes sticks down their throats and up their nostrils with 2018 being based upon The Magnificent before setting off for the delights of the Seven (there were seven of us) and a rehash Suffolk / Norfolk border. They also agreed to of Glen Campbell’s Galveston into Geldeston! extra cleaning duties and not to be offended So, what to do this year… that the beds of their neighbours in the hall Fairly obvious really, twelve muddy would be over two metres away instead of WRGies would obviously be The Dirty Dozen! the traditional method of being as close That is the closest this WRG production could together as possible. Two centimetres or two metres apart makes no difference to the get to the 1967 film which was a about a ferocity of the snoring! WW2 plot for a group of Allied troops (all In this first week of two we cleared out convicted for serious crimes) to be sent on a the soil behind the chamber wall so we could supposed suicide mission behind enemy lines. easily remove the falling-apart brickwork Our script was to finish restoring the down to a firm base, some of which is below southern lock wall. 60% had been done on the high tide level. week-long camps in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and May 2020’s camp to finish it was to be Did I mention Geldeston Lock is in one of two weeks but that plan went out of water? Well it is, and is the highest point of the window when something (I forget what!) the River Waveney to be tidal, some four prevented the camp starting until fourteen hours after the tide reaches the coast about months later. ten miles to the east.
Geldeston Lock, River Waveney Camp 1: 31 July - 7 August
fact file River Waveney
Length: 4 miles Locks: 3 Date closed: 1934 The Canal Camp project: Completing the dismantling of unsound brickwork and rebuilding on the south wall of Geldeston Lock, following on from the previous three years’ camps. Why? Because the lock walls were in a poor condition and could have collapsed if they hadn’t been repaired. The wider picture: As long ago as 1670, the creation of the River Waveney Navigation saw three locks built to allow boats to continue from the tidal reaches (which were already in use between Breydon Water and Beccles), on up to Bungay. These lower lengths (plus their links to Lowestoft and the upper Yare) still form part of the Broads; however the length above Geldeston fell out of use and closed. There are no current plans to reopen the locks (the upper two of which have been replaced with sluices, making it more difficult), but Geldeston is to be restored as a historic feature - and hopefully a place to moor the unique preserved wherry (sailing barge) Albion, which traded on the Waveney in the early 20th Century. Ellingham Lock
Bungay
Wainford Lock
Geldeston Lock
Canal Camp site: Geldeston Lock
Tidal river to Breydon Water and Great Yarmouth
Beccles
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