A blast from the past today, we motored downstream to Weybridge, where I grew up in the UK. After contacting our friend Sue at Walton Marina we decided to moor up here, as it’s a sheltered spot. At least it’s not raining, but it’s still blowy and the water has a stronger current flowing today. Our mooring is enhancing / spoiling a million £ house view !

T42 is moored on the right hand side of the pic. Not much of Weybridge remains that I recognise, 1 or 2 shops and the road layout.Church road antiques seems to be still surviving, at the “bottom” end of town, near the addlestone road and bridge.

Monument hill and the Ship Inn, now a hotel, still looked familiar. A lot more housing going up to Queens road now.

Our favourite grocer and fish shop has gone at the bottom of Baker Street, though a florist is still there.

Thankfully the library is still there, exactly as I remember it due to the hours spent there selecting and reading books. Something I still enjoy to this day in preference to tv. Weather permitting we will visit Sue tomorrow.

So last blog we were slow boating downstream on the Wey, enjoying the Rhododendrons in the sun ! Whilst having lunch at the New Inn at Send the weather started deteriorating. Going across open water meadows the wind started making steering difficult, so we decided to make a run for the marina rather than mooring on pins in the open. Thank goodness we did, last night a storm blew thru with heavy rain and gale force winds. T42 lurched around all night, and we could hear other boats hitting pontoons. It was still blowy this morning, it would be no fun on the Thames, so we’ve cancelled our trip to Hampton Court for present. Instead we went to the Aston Martin Museum / Owners Club HQ at Dreyton St Leonard. Situated in an old tithe barn we were made to feel most welcome, enjoyed the exhibits, and renewed our membership. 

First time seen in the flesh, Aston Martin One-77 with a  7.3litre V12 producing 750bhp, eat my dust Bugatti Veyron !

Another first see ! Vanquish Volante with only a 450bhp V12, well you don’t want your hair blown completely away….

Another sunny start saw us moving downstream 1 lock, but what a difference in surroundings. Our tranquil weir stream mooring for the old Dapdune Wharf in Guildford. We woke up to church bells, and as I write this blog they are ringing out from the Cathedral. On route we moored up by the high street and had a walk round. Guildford has changed from my childhood days, the coffee house and bookshop have closed, worse still the Jaeger fashion shop closed a couple of months ago……sorry mum. Hazel managed to find some stylish and inexpensive clothes from M&S, Mark found a stylish and expensive pre loved watch from Mappin and Webb ! The weather looks like it’s on the change, we will see how far downstream we get tomorrow.

As Ratty almost said ” there’s simply nothing like messing around on boats”, especially on an English summers day !The last 3 days have had glorious weather. With no timetable we finally reached the head of the navigable Wey at Godalming Wharf.

After a little shopping we met Penny, and gave her a lift by our boat to hers. Iona, a horse drawn trip boat also uses the wharf, after her departure we met again at the first lock going downstream. It was good to see a horse on the towpath, it was of course their intended use.

This couple seemed to have things sorted, being punted along. Normally seen at Oxford it looked good this afternoon. Tomorrow we will head back to Dapdune Wharf for a final foray into Guildford before heading for the Thames.

Our day of slow boating was rudely interrupted when a wide beam Narrowboat tried to go through Pyrford Lock without using ropes…..result one lifted lock gate. Chris, the local lengths man took 3 hours to fix it with a small jack and help as required from those of us waiting. As there were witnesses, and the boats name/number is known, he will be fined. Apart from the delay he ruined a couples day who had hired a boat for a picnic. They were last seen heading back to the boatyard to get a refund. Slow boaters rarely get “boat rage” but this guy hadn’t even stopped to apologise, so I’m sure there will be words. As a consequence of the above incident we did the first 2 locks with 2 other boats, a first for us. By 4.30 we were getting tired, decided Guildford can wait, and have moored up as shown below.

T42 waiting for the chamber to empty at Papercourt Court Lock.

This evenings moorings just upstream of Bowers Lock.

After a long day’s drive, from the Lake District to Bournemouth to Pyrford in 9 hours, we are back onboard T42. Sadly we have lost our travelling companions, Leon and Heather, who will spend a few days south before heading to London and then home. It was a lonely drive back to the marina without them, but our trusty and not so new now VW Caddy has performed very well. Even with the 4 of us and all our luggage it was able to cruise at 70mph with the occasional overtake.

Our evening patrol around the marina revealed a sorry sight on the slipway. I’ll find out what happened tomorrow but it’s a good thing we didn’t book the slipway as originally intended. We will do some “slow boating”, as described by Leon, up to Guildford to catch up with Penny, and relax ! 

Our final stop for the day was a visit to Hill End, where Beatrix Potter wrote a number of books. We had planned an hour visit but took 5 ! We had to queue first to get a parking spot, half an hour, then apply to visit the house, a wait of 2 hours. Finally the return trip of some 8 miles took over an hour because of traffic. It’s just too crowded ! But it was well worth it to see all those places I’d been read to as a child by mum and dad.

Mr McGregors vegetable patch,but no carrots ! Has Peter Rabbit eaten them all 

The letter box used by Peter Rabbit

Her desk with a draft copy of Squirel Nutkin

Our first stop for today was the local motor museum. An extensive collection of cars, bikes and some record breaking Bluebirds driven by Malcolm and Donald Campbell.

A TVR Speed 12, another car I’d never seen before ! 

Our accomodation near Windermere, a warren of rooms and lounges. It also has spectacular gardens to Lake Windermeres edge.

Yesterday we had an easy day’s drive to the Lake District via the industrial revolution woollen mill site at New Lanark. It’s an amazing showcase of machinery and how social reform started with reduced hours and an age limit on employment, above 10 years !