CSCC Reports 2011: Wey: Godalming to Guildford - 20^th November2011

The day started and ended with thick fog, but as Sean and I motored down the A3 together, the mist began to clear.  Unfortunately this didn't help me find my way around Guildford in "the Roaring Lion" as we struggled to locate Woodbridge Meadows car park where I was meant to rendez-vous with David and leave my car.  After visiting most of the car parks in the town and going for a magical mystery tour (Surrey University, the Cathedral etc.) we arrived at the get-in at Godalming about half an hour late.  Perhaps I need to revisit my "sat-navs are for girls" stance?  Chris, who was not dependent on an OS explorer map, had used his free time wisely and had invested in some 40p sandwiches from Waitrose.

Our launch led to some amusing antics.  At one stage I thought David was going to need the assistance of the pre-school age girl with ringlets who'd stopped her little trike to watch him teetering on the river bank, attempting a seal launch.  Oh I wish I'd caught that one with my camera.  Eventually we were under way (and not under Wey).

We didn't see any motor boats chugging along on the river and there weren't too many locks to negotiate, so the paddling was very straightforward indeed.  We did try to explore a bit and poked our noses up the section which once upon a time led onto the River Arun and the sea.  Sadly, the link between the two rivers has been broken for many years.  We discovered anglers stationed all along the bank in what appeared to be some sort of tedious competition.  Rather than risking a confrontation with morose looking men looking for an excuse for their inability to catch fish, we rapidly retreated back to the main channel.  

At this point we met up with locals Malcolm and Marcia who had been on a hike and had been looking for us but had encountered only dozens of Staffordshire bull terriers.  After finally making contact with us Eminem followed us along the tow path as far as our lunch destination, which was the White House pub in Guildford.  

And that was pretty much it as far as the paddling was concerned. Our thanks go to Chris for carefully organising yet another great trip for us.

As we drove back to London the fog descended again and by the time we made it to the boat-shed it was like something out of the Dickens era.  I could hardly see a thing as I struggled to lock up the shed.