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This morning was our second task with the Maidenhead Waterways group, which aims to restore and enlarge waterways through the town centre, making them more accessible for everyone to enjoy, both along the tow-paths and by boat. Much like our task helping the group clear weeds around the Green Lane weir this proved to be a great laugh, excellent exercise, and a fascinating insight into what's lurking in those watery depths.

Movers and rakers

Today's focus was the stretch of water from Chapel Arches along York Stream to York Road. GoodGym volunteers Amy, Em, Paul and Sophie joined 11 Waterways volunteers to make up the working party.

Most of the others had brought canoes, dinghies and waders, so they tackled the Chapel Arches basin area, where the high sides make it impossible to reach weeds, litter and debris without taking to the water. GoodGym were assigned to York Stream, so we collected our 4 metre long rakes, and set off to work from the banks.

Maidenhead Waterways have been conducting a trial to add a special blue dye to the water to kill blanket weed. It is used successfully in sailing lakes and there did seem to be less green blankety stuff and more globby dead brown stuff than there had been when we were working at the weir in June. The dead brown stuff was extremely cunning though, and kept slipping through the tines of our rakes, so we had a go with some nets instead.

Then ensued much discussion amongst the girls about how a long tool and rake-ish good looks are all well and good, but a shorter tool and higher net worth can ultimately offer greater satisfaction.

Gradually we got into the swing of it, giving York Stream a grand old tidy...

Oh the grand old stream of York, It was full of 10,000 weeds... So we scooped weeds out using special rakes and nets, then we scooped weeds out again. And when we got wet, we were wet, And when we got mucky, we were mucky, And when we were stuck halfway up the steep banks by the side of the library, we were neither up nor down!

(...don't worry, Em rescued herself using super upper body strength and a fence and Amy found a more stable patch of turf and did a short hill sprint to safety)

Girl a-boat town

After about 90 minutes we had cleared the weeds we could reach from the banks and we were all getting boat-envy. Sophie knows everyone in Maidenhead and she can be very persistent so she worked some magic et voila there she was zig-zagging down-stream in a dinghy. This was a game changer. She was joined by Amy and after some trial and error and a fairly precarious socially distanced mid-stream seat swap, they got into a good rhythm, working together to scoop up great clumps of weeds. They were cheered on by Amy's family, who had come for a stroll down the tow-path.

Em and Paul then had a go, and despite questionable weight distribution in the dinghy, they finished the job handsomely. We always said this task was right up Paul's stream!

Amy then helped Paul and Em back to dry land....on the wrong side of the bank. 'Oh don't worry Em, you hop back in and give it a quick row back over there,' she said, launching Em back into the water with a helpful shove. Em is a paddle boarder, but alone in the dinghy she was all at sea. Thankfully Maidenhead Waterways were on hand on the opposite bank to help her back to safety.

Who knew we could have such an adventure right in the middle of town?

Dive in

The weeds we scooped out were left on the banks so that any creatures living in them could make their way back to the water. As well as snails, water insects and little worm-like beasties, we found a few small fish, which we threw back in. There is a clean-up mission tomorrow morning to collect the weeds. Sign up here to get your waterways fix!

If you would like to support Maidenhead Waterways further you can find them on Facebook and check out their website here.

Photo credit for the large group shot in the amphitheater goes to Maidenhead Waterways.