To Guildford

Sunday 25th August 2013
Yesterday we just stayed put! for once the weathermen was spot on. They predicted heavy rain all day, and that's just about what we got.
On the strength of that forecast we had decided not to bother moving, because we didn't have to. We got a bit of cleaning done, I managed to get into the little cubby where our toilet cassette is kept and give it a bit of a birthday. We saw several boats travelling in the awful conditions and were really glad we didn't have to.
This morning we set off to continue our exploration of the navigation. The weather still hadn't completely cleared up, and it did start a very light drizzle for a while. It had stopped by the time we reached Newark Lock, the first of the day.
Cath worked this one, while I held the boat in the lock, as I've said before, these locks can be fierce.
Not long after this lock the river comes out of the trees and we are given a fine view over the water meadows

At Papercourt Lock we were joined by a GRP craft, they seldom will share a lock with a steel boat for fear of being crushed, and with these locks being turbulent I thought him very brave to get in with us.
There was already a narrowboat in the next lock, Triggs, so he joined them and we lost our pairing.

However, we caught up with the narrowboat before getting to Bowers Lock, the GRP craft had gone ahead on its own.
This is a tricky lock to enter, right on a sharp corner, but we both got in OK.
Once through we forged on ahead, again by ourselves because the other boat decided to stop for lunch.
The next stop was Dapdune Wharf, where there is a Nation Trust Office, also services are here. We needed to chuck a can, so we stopped briefly. We had hoped to moor up, but there was no room.
We continued on into Guildford, where there is mooring, but the book recommends not leaving the boat unattended here. It is a bit claustrophobic there, and doesn't look a good place to stay. We stopped for a short time while I went into town for a bit of shopping.

Guildford is quite small, built on the side of the river valley. the walk up High Street is steep. Luckily the walk back with shopping is down hill.

We then moved off, just a bit further, through Millmead Lock to the meadow, where we have stopped for the night.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=51.230504,-0.572941&spn=0.001824,0.005284&t=h&z=18