The Wey & Godalming Navigations

24-27 October 2003

A long weekend on the River Wey and Godalming Navigation...


Just before dawn on the northern end of the Godalming Navigation, on the southern edge of Guildford, our mooring spot for Friday night.


During Saturday, we reached Woodham Junction, where the Wey Navigation meets the
Basingstoke Canal - a lovely rural canal junction?


Well, not quite. Here the main Waterloo to Portsmouth railway line crosses the Wey as the Navigation heads south


And a view north towards Weybridge shows the enormous viaduct of the M25 crossing the canal and shattering any illusions of rural peace. However, this short section apart, the waterway is very rural and scenic.


On Sunday morning, a scene at Walsham and one of the flood locks on the Wey


Smoke rising from a moored boat shows that not everyone was up before dawn


But what a beautiful day they are missing


Henry enjoying the sunshine


Another boat heads towards us on this cold but clear morning


Lucy and our boat Jasmine II in Newark Lock, with the remains of Newark Priory behind


The dogs take a rest while the lock fills


The cascading weir at Papercourt Lock is a delightful scene


Lucy brings Jasmine into the lock


As we continue our journey back towards Godalming, horses graze by the water's edge


Lucy steers Jasmine through Guildford


We leave St Catherine's Lock behind, now back on the Godalming Navigation


Lucy and the dogs in the late afternoon sunshine


Broadford Bridge is very low, with a maximum of 6'4" of clearance


Lucy at the tiller crouches down ...


...and springs back up like a jack-in-the-box!


Henry looking grumpy, but he's cheerful really!


Passing the junction with the derelict Wey & Arun Canal, the focus of a long-term restoration project to rebuild "London's lost route to the sea" at Chichester


George and Henry watching the world go by, and provoking a lot of "Aaah" noises from walkers on the towpath


Henry the figurehead


The autumn colours are lovely this year


The sun sets as  we approach our mooring at Manor Inn on the outskirts of Godalming


On Monday morning, Henry is back on his favourite spot - if he wasn't able to see everything that was going past, he would pace from side to side of the boat to make sure he wasn't missing anything


Jasmine waits for us to take her back to the boatyard

 

 

Back Up Next

Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright (c) Stephen and Lucy Dawson