If you passed Abingdon Lock today, you may have seen an excavator on a floating barge, pulling mud from the river with its grab.

Silt collects below the weir and has to be cleared to keep the channel deep enough for boats. The spoil is swung either out of the navigation channel or onto the bank that has built up near the lock. That bank seems to grow larger each year and is now a favourite spot for geese. It may also help to keep the silt from drifting back into the channel.

A local passer-by said they remembered the same work being done last summer. The Environment Agency has plenty to do, with flooding sometimes and silt at others. Although this summer has been dry, the river level does not look unusually low on the gauge downstream of Abingdon Lock. However, a notice at the lock warns boaters about shallows along the left bank before Abingdon Bridge.

The footpath across Abingdon Weir has reopened, with large green “Footpath Open” signs now in place and the fencing that blocked access removed.

The walkway was closed in April 2025 due to safety concerns over corrosion in the steel support structure. At the time, the closure was expected to last about three weeks — from 22 April to 12 May — but it was understood this could be extended depending on inspection results.

During the closure, there were occasional acts of “guerrilla reopening,” with padlocks removed to let people across, only for the Environment Agency to replace them.

The Environment Agency has given no public updates about repairs or an official reopening date, but the path is open for now.

This Sunday afternoon brought only a warm breeze under an overcast sky. Storm Floris is due tomorrow but is expected to affect mainly the North.

Setting out from Abingdon Bridge towards the lock, we hadn’t expected to cross the weir — diversion signs still warned it was closed. Music drifted from the Nags Head as we followed the Thames. A longboat selling Hasbeen Handbags was moored beside Happy Heron, a Viking cruiser up for sale.

Contractors were repairing two sections of riverbank — one unstable, the other worn into an inlet by flood flow. Several swimmers, a couple of generations older than those seen a month ago, were steadily crossing the river and back.

At the lock, three rowing boats from the Weyfarers Rowing Club in Weybridge passed through with a long way to go.

Further on, quite a few people were crossing the weir walkway. The warning boards had been pushed aside again. I don’t know how unstable the walkway is, but the Environment Agency, who put the diversion in place, clearly didn’t think it safe. (The fish pass has become overgrown since its closure).

Beyond it, the mill stream was clogged with reeds and bent trees. Large rhubarb-like leaves grow along the banks. It seems to be getting more overgrown year by year. Carry on like this, and the district council won’t need to repair the wooden bridge (featured on the blog a few weeks ago) — we’ll be able to walk across on dry land.