Back to Guildford

Today's Navigation : Godalming

We only planned to return to Guildford today, not much more than a couple of hours cruising so there was no need for an early departure! It took until mid mornings before we were ready to do our weekend shopping - we are not sure when we will next be able to find a supermarket.

Although we moved across to the wharf to be next to Sainsbury's car park, we first walked into the town centre. It is a very pleasant little high street with a lot of small shops. Also today there was a small market.

We were tempted by some of the offerings from the stalls but then found most of what we needed at Sainsbury (this is the down market supermarket for Godalming - the other one is Waitrose!)

Another sign of the cultural context was this sign outside a pub at the end of the high street. Looking in the estate agent windows, it seems that a fairly modest house on the town starts at around £0.5 million.

The sanitary station on the town wharf was not accessible. Although our BWB Watermate fitted the main lock, it was also fastened by another lock which we could not open. Just as well we are not desperate as even the water point was inside.

We set off and passed through Catteshall Lock but stopped for lunch on the approach to the next lock. Another portion of the latest soup as well as one of the loaves we bought yesterday.

On again and there were only two locks before we arrived at the Meadows south of Guildford town centre.On the proper river sections, speed downstream seemed almost out of control. Fortunately we had been under the lowest bridge on the way up, with just about 100mm clearance so it was not as worrying as if this was our first passage! Controlling the boat to a slow speed was not really a possibility!

There were some young families at St Catherine's Sands today but they did not look very warm!

We opted to moor at the Meadows for the night rather than return to Dapdune Wharf, at least for a change but also because it is a little closer to the theatre.

Alas the show, which Christine favoured, was sold out. It was in the Mill Studio which only has a small performance space. The other option was at the Electric Theatre, a play called Blue Stockings. It was almost sold out but we did manage to secure a couple of tickets which we will pick up when we arrive.

The theatre was built in the space once occupied by the town's electricity station and is mainly used by various amateur arts groups - in tonight's case the Guildbury Players, a group originally formed in 1963. It seats around 180 people and even though we were on the very back row we could see and hear as well as anywhere else.

It proved to be an excellent production and the play itself is very new, first performed at the Globe Theatre in 2013 was written, as a first play, by Jessica Swale. It dramatises the circumstances, in 1896, of the earliest women seeking to graduate - this group all attended Girton when there was almost total prejudice against women being educated. A snippet from a lecture by Dr Henry Maudsley, founder of the famous Maudsley Hospital, set the tone right from the outset. It as a striking reminder of what had to be achieved in the past century but there was much in the script that has resonances for today, not just in relation to the opportunities for women. The ability of a ruling class to dictate a way of life for all others has perhaps changed little.

4.5 miles - 3 locks