Guildford to Godalming

First thing this morning we did a quick bit of shopping in Guildford before returning to the boat.

Guildford High Street is pedestrianized and very pleasant……….

……… and at the top of the High Street is the Abbott Hospital.  In fact, the building is a collection of Alms Houses built around the turn of the 16th century.  The courtyard is beautiful and it’s like a very small version of  Hampton Court.
We had to get back to the boat for the arrival, at 10:00, of Adam and Adrian (nb ‘Briar Rose’) who came to see us for the day. They’d got up early, driven from Sussex to Godalming (where they’d parked their car), caught the train to Guildford and arrived at ‘Chance’ dead on the time agreed.  Very impressive!

Adrian took the tiller for a  good part of the trip to Godalming today.

Adam and Adrian very kindly helped us with the locks.  The weather could have been a lot better for June – the wind is becoming especially wearisome but at least we only had one short shower of rain today, which is probably better than in other parts of the country.

We were warned about the two low bridges towards the end of the navigation.  This one seems to be more dangerous because of the “danger” sign! Duck!!!!

The second, and last, “duck!” of the day.

Here we are approaching Catteshall Lock – the last on the system, just before Godalming.

We managed to get the only mooring available in the basin (there’s not a lot of room available) and as soon as we arrived the wind got very strong so we  hunkered down for a glass of wine and some nibbles which were followed very closely by lunch. The horse drawn trip boat left the basin while we were indoors and sheltering from the wind.  Because they were so close we had to take two pictures.  One of the horse (above) ……….

……………..and then the boat.

This is our mooring tonight – we’ve winded ready for the return journey as this is the end of the line.  We had a great time with Adam and Adrian, especially Adrian as we haven’t seen him for so long.  We walked with them back to the railway station, where they’d left their car and then went for a quick walk around this extremely nice little town.

A pretty corner of  Godalming – we’ll probably take a better walk around tomorrow.