The day began quite bright with plenty of blue sky but sadly this did not last long and by mid morning it was overcast and remained that way all day. But at least we kept dry.
Mike walked into town to pick up a paper. On the way back he discovered that the busy road close to the river, Millpool Road, was only built in 1961.Before that the main road south was along Quarry Street, which runs at a slightly higher level. At the town end stand St Mary's Church, parts of which are pre-Norman. At one stage it was a bit longer than it is now and the end of the chancel jutted out into the road - or perhaps the road and houses developed leaving a narrow way. It is said that George IV objected to delays on his way from Windsor to Brighton and the church was shortened for his benefit!
We set off, through Millmead Lock alongside the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, but initially only for the short distance back to Dupdune Wharf as we really needed the services. It turned out that the reason that Godalming services are locked is becuse of a problem somewhere along the pipe that pumps out from a septic tank, underneath Sainsbury's car park for 200 metres. As yet they have not been able to locate the leak.
Whilst Mike sorted out the boat, Christine walked to the nearby shop for some more milk - just in case.
As a result it was midday before we set off once again - by now the grey sky had arrived as this photo of the wharf left behind us shows.
At Stoke bridge there is an impressive former mill building - now home to the Surrey Advertiser. The navigation takes a sharp left at this point and the direction only appears at the last moment - the route under the bridge in the photo only goes to a weir. We passed through Stoke Lock but pulled into the layby/mooring just above the next lock to have lunch.
Below Bower's Lock is a sharp bend but the steerer's problem is the flow of water actually pushes boats away from the lock landing just below the lock. As a result, Christine had to walk around to another landing on the opposite bank.
The rest of the cruise was uneventful and, as it was so overcast, there are few interesting photos - we did not spot anything special that we missed on the way up.
We phoned Pyrford Marina to see if their chandlery stocked replacement gas cylinders for Mike's lifejacket but they shut at 4.30. We reached the lock just before the marine at 4.20 so Christine quickly set off and caught them just before they closed. Although they made every effort to fit a replacement, it seems that there are just too many different types!
By now there was a threat of rain so we looked for a mooring not long after - as with a lot of the river, the banks look very inviting for a mooring but much of it is shallow. As we did not want to push on past Woodham Junction (it is a bit built up around that stretch) we settled for a quiet location but having to deploy the gangplank once more.
From here our original plans have fallen apart as the Basingstoke Canal has lock stoppages until Wednesday. We have made enquiries and it is possible that we will go down the Thames to Limehouse, rather than turn through Brentford where we came through earlier in this trip. However, we shall have to see what the weather does as very strong winds are forecast for tomorrow which may limit how far we get beyond the end of the Wey Navigation at Shepperton Lock.
11.3 miles - 7 locks
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