Dapdune Wharf to Godalming and back again.

Saturday 31st May.

Dapdune Wharf to Godalming 4.9 miles….. 4 locks.

A beautiful morning greeted us as we opened up the back cabin doors; it was going to be a nice day.
We had enjoyed a really peaceful night at the secure moorings at Dapdune Wharf, it is a place anyone coming here should visit, we woke up needing a cuppa before getting out of bed. Breakfast was Bacon Rolls for a change before setting off at 9.15am. Some of the old mill buildings are really beautiful; it is nice to see they have been preserved and are now apartments. So often these historic places are flattened for a new, modern building. I prefer the old ones when it is possible to save them.Once out of Guildford we were into some stunning countryside and met up with the local canoe club, all out in force practicing.Thankfully they kept out of our way, as there was no way we would have been able to slam Hadar into reverse in time to stop hitting them.
Not everything was as straight forward as expected; we encountered a very low bridge, not helped by the fact that the navigation is running a little high. So it was down with the mast, off with the chimneys, Buckby cans and engine chimney.Keith and I had to duck low, but we made it through ok, with gongoozlers watching in amazement. It seems that they very rarely see a working boat, because we have been video, snapped with all the latest cameras, and asked every question under the sun.
We saw the junction with the Wey and Arun Canal as we headed on towards Godalming.
As we arrived in Godalming, the first thing was finding a mooring because there did not seem to be any of a suitable size for Hadar, well that was until NB Belle moved off and we moved from the sanitary point to their mooring. Having moored up at 12.15pm and had lunch we then took a walk into Godalming. It is a very pretty town, with a lot of very old buildings, with a great deal of character. Keith and I enjoyed a walk around the very small museum, which is free to enter. As with all towns we visited the charity shops, but there was nothing that caught our eye. As we arrived back at the boat, horse drawn boat Iona was being prepared for a trip out with passengers onboard.Iona is a small Woolwich built in December 1935 fleet number was 232 and used to go by the name of Bellerophon, which was paired with Boots. We sat and watched as the horse went about its job, taking paying customers on a peaceful trip along the navigation. I went into Sainsbury’s which is right by the mooring to buy a few bits to top up supplies, it always pays to keep extra’s onboard. It had been a lovely day.Marmite enjoyed herself sitting up on the Buckby can watching the world go by, so we were bitterly disappointed with the evening and the behaviour of a group of young people. During the late afternoon, some Polish lads had gathered on the benches by the moorings, having bought drink from Sainsbury’s. There were also 4 other lads there eating a celebration cake, not interfering with anyone. The lads who were drinking then got together with the cake eating lads and they were having a really fun time, drinking Vodka and goodness knows what else, but not bothering us. They even chatted to Keith, after he had gone out to see if they had been moving the boat and they said it was not them and that they would not stay late, making a nuisance of themselves, which was not a problem at all, they seemed harmless enough. We had no problem with them having some fun, but what happened later in the evening did upset me in particular. Keith and I had gone in and were sat watching some TV, when we felt the boat move again. Keith was up and out the back cabin doors like a shot, to find a lad jumping up and down on the bow of the boat. He of course shouted for the lad to get off. What followed was not pleasant. This was one of four new young people to the group, two lads and two lasses. The mouthy lad of the four was eyeball to eyeball with Keith giving him the lip, with the F word and the C word etc. I asked them if they would please go away and had my phone on 999 in case I needed to phone the police. One of the nice lads from the first group eating the cake rushed over and pulled the lad away saying “he was nothing to do with them, but he would make sure they left as he did not want any trouble”. Infact he was almost begging us not to take it any further. The mouthy lad was clearly looking for a fight, and he did not care who it was with. After sometime the lad did leave us alone and eventually at 9.45pm they were moved away by the polite lad, who was obviously not happy with the others behaviour, which was drink induced. It is a really sad reflection on the youth of today when they behave like this, and it was down to binge drinking. God help the next generation of adults. I would never have behaved like they did when I was there age, and we know that they were school age as they told us so. So for starters they should not have been drinking, but that was down to the Polish lads giving them bottles of Vodka. I really feel the next generation of adults is heading for a crisis if they do not sort themselves out.
My main worry in all of this was Keith confronting them, because with all the knife crime going on at the moment, I did not want him involved with anything like that. So a sad end to the day, but it would not put me off of coming again.

Sunday 1st June.

Godalming to Dapdune Wharf, Guildford….4.9 miles….. 4 locks

After the night we had, had we decided to head back to Dapdune Wharf for our overnight stay. It started out spitting as we left Godalming. Keith turned Hadar around at the winding point and we set off, all but 1 of the locks was with us, so we did it half an hour faster than when we went up, it also helped that the flow was with us. We did have a bit of excitement with the Guildford Canoe Club. They were out in force in their fours and on the outside of the bend at the club sight. Hadar needed the outside of the bend to get around the sharp turn. So Keith gave a few blasts on the Klaxon and shouted that we needed the outside of the bend. There was then a mass move of the canoes to get out of our way; they were going in all directions. Eventually we set off around the bend, using it to the full, meaning if they had stayed put, they would have been squished canoes and crews. We arrived back at Dapdune Wharf and I did an early lunch so we could walk into Guildford, which was only a ten minute stroll. Guildford is a pretty town with its Cathedral and Castle. There are plenty of shops in the sprawling town. It is well worth a visit. Later we are off to the cinema to see the new Indiana Jones movie with out free tickets, not to mention the free popcorn and drink.
I have to say that The National Trust has done some fabulous work on this Navigation and it has been an enjoyable trip so far in many ways. We belong The National Trust and have enjoyed visiting many of their properties. They run the Dapdune Wharf museum and do a fantastic job. We would love to come an visit again sometime in the future.