Got to Guildford.

We had a nice lay in with the slightly cooler night and we were off by 1000.

We stopped to take water just before Cart Bridge at Send. It is a stop lock for when the River Wey is in flood, but nothing to do today.

We saw nothing of Sutton Place which was the home of Getty at one time. It was well hidden behind trees. The approach to Bower's Lock is not the easiest with the lock landing before a 90 deg left hand turn with the river coming down too. Just as we approached a boat was leaving the lock to add interest but all was accomplished without effort.

As we navigate the bends and curves of the river navigation we can see that the guide posts for horse drawn boats have all been reinstated. I think there is a horse drawn trip boat at the top end of the Godalming Navigation but whetehr it gets down here I'm not sure. I think it is probably the National Trust doing things 'properly' and having the money to do it too.

We soon passed Dapdune Wharf and decided to carry on past as we could stop on the way down if we wanted. There were many bridges passing through Guildford and the towpath was very busy with folk walking about.

Town Wharf was the working wharf for boats on the Navigation and there is a treadmill crane there. SWL 2 tones, or so it said. This nice sculpture was next to the wooden building of the crane.

This is the bridge across the Wey alongside Millmead Lock which is the end of the Wey Navigation and the start of the Godalming Navigation.

We moored up at Shalford Meadows and after a bite to eat wandered the short distance into town. Helen was still on the look out to complete her wedding outfit and struck lucky at Debenhams. We also wandered up the High Street popping into shops to check shoes and jackets out before calling at the Tourist Information. We got a nice self guided walk and combined that with a bit more window shopping. This is the Angel Hotel. Guildford was a staging post on the route between London and Brighton when Brighton was fashionable when the Prince of Wales was visiting it a lot. 200 a dat would pass through Guildford's coaching inns at the time.

The Guildhall has it's clock that is dated 1683 and was where the town was run from by the Approved Men of Guildford, before the rise of Borough Council. Guildford means the Golden Ford that was still near the Twon Bridge until they made the river navigable and it was dredged away.

This building is alms houses called the Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, or more commonly the  Abbot's Hospital. They were founded by George Abbot in 1619 who was a local lad who became the Archbishop of Canterbury. They were for 20 single elderly locals.

I spotted this on the church tower of Holy Trinity in the High Street. I noticed the the Festina Lente 'Make Haste Slowly' and I think that the 'Fugimus etc Imputamur' means something like fleeting and in passing!

This is the statue of George Abbot, as it says. We stopped for a pint in the Three Pigeons pb at the top of High Street and it was a nice place. I had a pint of IPA from Marlow Brewery before walking on the tour.

This is the original RoyalGrammar School built in 1553where George Abbot went. On the other side of the road is the new school built in the 1960's.

There is some good old fashioned park bedding displays in the Castle Gardens. This one must be for the Queen's 90th. It is found by the Castle Bowling Green.

The castle ditch is a lovely place to sit and soak up the sun. The castle was built by the Normans but never saw any military use and was used as a prison for much of it's life.

The keep was restored in 2004 but was closed by the time we got there. I forgot to tell you that we found another pub to visit for another pint. This time the Royal Oak provided a pint of Hop Head. The pub can be found at the back of the Holy Trinity church yard.

We have spotted these around Surrey and they are a fund raising idea for charity called the Cowparade. It didn't take us very long to walk back to the boat and our tea. We shall be abck on the way down as it is a nice place and not at all what we thought it would be like.