Sat 12th
Aug Godalming to Guildford
Moored in Godalming
We reversed
the boat from our towpath mooring near the Methodist Church to the sanitary
station, turning round at the corner. We filled up with water and did all the
other necessary things. The elsan point was in a good clean state, unlike the
last time, when we found it blocked and unusable. Hazel went to do some shopping in Sainsbury’s.
Turning at the corner
Our
visitors arrived soon after – John, Gemma and young Samuel. John went off in the car to meet us in
Guildford, while Gemma and Samuel had a boat trip with us. There were several day hire boats out and
about from Farncombe Boathouse, and we shared every lock with a different one.
John and Gemma with Samuel
We moored
on the meadows, as near to the rowing club as we could get, and John came and
found us. We all had lunch on board.
Later, Hazel
had one of her occasional infections, and we arranged an appointment via 111 at
the Royal Surrey Hospital. We took a taxi there, and she was prescribed
antibiotics. We took the prescription to the pharmacy in a large Tesco near the
hospital and then took two buses back to the boat. The pills seem to have
worked OK.
3 locks, 4
miles
Sun 13th
Aug Guildford
Early morning on the meadows at
Guildford
We walked
to Guildford Baptist Church at Millmead for their 10am service. We spotted John Archer, a colleague of
James’s from Tear Fund days 27 years ago.
Just in front of him was Steve Bishop, a colleague from MasterSun days
17 years ago. We were able to catch up
briefly with both of them over coffee after the service.
Steve Bishop
We did
some shopping later before returning to the boat via a grassy path down from
Quarry Street.
The famous clock
In the
evening we had a visit from our son Greg and granddaughter Jasmin, and
boyfriend Gavin, who joined us for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Greg’s wife
Jessy was in Malaysia, and our other granddaughter Claudia was in Poole with
Amanda. It was good to find out about Greg’s recent trek to the base camp at
Everest.
Hazel Gavin Jasmin Greg
No boating
today
Mon 14th
Aug Guildford to Triggs Lock
It was
sunny as we left the mooring on the meadows, and went through Millmead Lock.
There are always Gongoozlers here, and James had a pleasant chat with a lady
from Nelson, in New Zealand.
Once
through the lock, we tied up near the Alice statue, to do some last minute
shopping, before moving on once more to Dapdune Wharf to use their facilities. We didn’t need water – just as well as there
was a queue for the hose.
Alice and the rabbit statue
Guildford Town Bridge
Here we
were pleased to meet Adrian (not his real name), who spends a lot of time on a
small white cruiser. The first time we
met him was several years ago. He had been slumped over in his boat which still
had the engine running, in forward gear, keeping the bows into the bank, above
the weir at Walsham gates. When we went to see if we could help, we couldn’t
understand what he was saying, and thought he was from Eastern Europe. He had
several empty wine bottles in the boat. We got him to turn off his engine, and
we moored his boat securely. If we hadn’t been there he could have ended up
going over the weir. The next morning he had sobered up and we realised he was
English and quite well spoken. He
obviously had a problem with alcohol and had called his AA mentor. The fact that our boat was called Gabriel
challenged him and we gave him some Christian literature.
This time
we invited him on board for tea, and discovered that he has been completely off
the booze for two years, he has done an Alpha Course, and his girl friend is a
Christian who goes to Hillsong. We gave him a New Testament and a “Why Jesus?”
booklet. We are so pleased that we met him again, and will continue to pray for
him.
We moved
on from Dapdune, going downstream through Stoke Lock and Bowers Lock, mooring
eventually on the river section below Triggs Lock, where we have seen deer in
the meadow in the past. No deer this
time, partly because they have mown the meadow short.
Stoke Lock
4 locks, 5
miles
Tue 15th
Aug Triggs Lock to Byfleet Boat Club
Morning reflections
We had a
very peaceful night at this lovely mooring, away from the traffic noise of the
A3 which spoils the area near Sutton Place and Bowers Lock.
We came
off the river section at Worsfold Gates, where we spotted the old wooden boat
that has been used to strengthen the bank.
Worsfold Gates
There was
just one visiting boat moored in Send. We stopped at Cartbridge Wharf to fill
up the water tank, before moving on past the new Send Marina where Geoff, the
owner, was operating a JCB.
The tap at Cartbridge Wharf
We had Papercourt
Lock to ourselves, and after the river section we saw Travellers Joy moored up. This belongs to Margaret and Barry who
are no doubt jet setting off somewhere as usual.
Papercourt Lock
Soon after Newark Lock we came across
a team tackling the Floating Pennywort which is really bad around here this
year.
Weed clearance
When we
arrived at Byfleet Boat Club we found that Tony and Pat on Paws 4 Thought were there. We last saw them in Reading. Strangely,
we both needed a 6kg gas bottle, so we went to TLC who thankfully had two
bottles on stock.
Tony and
Pat were planning to visit Brooklands Museum, and we had also considered doing
this, so we said we would go too.
3 locks, 6
miles
Wed 16th
Aug Byfleet Boat Club
We took a
bus to Brooklands Museum. It was several years since our last visit, and there
were several changes. First of all the entrance was from the Mercedes World
area, instead of from Brooklands Road.
The museum now includes the Weybridge Bus Museum, which used to be near
Silvermere. We went round the site at
different speeds but met for lunch in the cafe.
Brooklands F1 exhibition
Concorde
No boating
today
Thu 17th
Aug Byfleet Boat Club to Pyrford
Strangely
the new bottle of gas we had started only three days ago ran out. There may be a gas leak, so when we
reconnected the new one bought yesterday from TLC, we turned it off when we
weren’t using it.
We set off
north and turned in the junction with the Basingstoke Canal, before returning
and passing Paws 4 Thought.
Hugo
We went to
Pyrford, and turned in the Marina entrance, before mooring up on the towpath in
a wooded area. It was much quieter than
at Byfleet Boat Club, where the M25 runs just a few feet away. Paws 4
Thought came and moored nearby.
0 locks, 2
½ miles
Fri 18th
Aug Pyrford to Weybridge
Paws 4 Thought left before we did, and we are
unlikely to see them again this year. We
went into Pyrford Marina to buy another bottle of gas. We saw our friend Dick Dolton there.
Farewell to Paws 4 Thought
We then
departed for Weybridge, going back past the boat club and the Basie and under
the M25 with its colourful graffiti.
We caught
up with a boat called Grainne Mhaol and
shared New Haw Lock with them. We left
the lock first as they had crew to pick up. We had a heavy rain shower at that
point. When we reached Coxes Lock there was a boat waiting, and we could have
shared with them, but would have been queue jumping, so we beckoned Grainne Mhaol on. They were very
grateful as they were meeting people at the Pelican. Before we could use the lock, another boat came
up, Nauti C’s, owned by Byfleet Boat
Club members.
New Haw Lock
We moored
just above Town Lock as we had shopping to do, and we needed to see our
Weybridge property at Portmore Quays.
Although we have been paying gardeners to look after the garden, due to
some non-communication, the work hasn’t been happening. The issue we think has now been resolved.
We walked
to the shops, and bought a new brolly from Dyas, as it was raining hard and our
old one had broken a spoke. Then to
Morrisons for some provisions. The rain
stopped as we walked back to the boat, so we moved on down through Town
Lock. It is said that some of the old
stones at this lock came from Oatlands Palace which was demolished around the
time that the navigation was built. Oatlands Palace in turn was built with
stones from Chertsey Abbey.
Once
through the lock, we went downriver, and were pleased to find that the mooring
we were hoping for was unoccupied. As we
were heading there, Paul came round the corner on Iron Duck, and we confirmed that we would see him later.
Paul on Iron Duck
An hour
later we had a knock on the side of the boat.
It was Alison and Laura from Large
Marge, last seen in Newbury. They
were moored on the Thames by the ferry, and were out to explore the Wey and the
village.
Soon after
they had gone, there was another knock. We thought it was them back again, but
it was the lady from Grainne Mhaol.
They had also moored by the ferry. She was handing over to a gentleman called
James, She asked about Canal Ministries
and BCF, so we gave out the appropriate leaflets.
We went to
our neighbours Paul and Rosie’s for a lovely evening meal. It was good to catch
up.
3 locks, 3
½ miles
Next: out
onto the Thames and upstream to Staines for Sunday at Staines Methodist Church,
followed by Mary and Jim’s ruby wedding at Runnymede.
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