Ever nearer to London

I absolutely love the Thames there is such a diverse range of river craft from the tiniest motor boat to the almost super yachts, and the houseboats are amazing ( good and not so good ). We were surprised and pleased to get a mooring right outside Hampton Court Palace, and had a visit from daughter No1s friend Daniella along with her two sons Jayden and Logan. Had a lovely afternoon wandering round the palace thanks to Daniellas free pass.Having got our days mixed up we left the mooring to get a few miles under our belt and coming off the Thames at Brentford onto the Grand Union was a bit of a shock, so much rubbish everywhere, we did the Hanwell flight ( 6 locks ) at dusk and met some local characters ( some a bit dodgy ) we also passed an old mental asylum ( the internets words not mine) it was so creepy there was no way I was mooring up next to that place.As we now have a day we didn't know we had, an easy day tomorrow I think .......Lou.  Xxx

Beautiful Godalming....and then the Pikeys moved in

Speakeasy at the southernmost point of the network; during a maintenance period!

Our friend's children Freddy and the lovely Isabelle fishing for treasure at Cartbridge.

Wey Navigation

We have just finished 3 weeks cruising the River Wey navigation, so called as it was one of the first Rivers to be 'canalised' for freight traffic. Apart from the usual cargoes of corn, coal, timber and chalk for the lime kilns etc this waterway was also used to transport ordnance from Woolwich arsenal and gunpowder (locally produced in Guilford) to Portsmouth. Yes that's right Portsmouth; a branch line called the Wey and Arun canal split off above Godalming at a place called Guns mouth and went all the way to Chichester then turned west through Chichester harbour, through Southsea and finally emerging at Gunwharf... So Guns mouth to Gunwharf!  This was not the end of the journey though as most of the munitions were then shipped across the pond to help fight the yanks during the war of Independance.

Unfortunately Godalming is the most southerly point on the navigable part of the entire network so we just had to reverse right up to the bitter end just to say we did it, and what a beautiful spot it was too!

Church window illuminated

Down at the Doctors

So we're back on the Thames and instead of turning right towards London, we have had to go back upstream to "4all Marine" to get a new centre rope anchor point welded on as the pathetic little weedy one we had has finally snapped off.  The yard was run by big Dave and his nephew Luke, where they both repair and build steel boats and house boats. What was really refreshing was that the work took only half an hour and a pretty bit of welding too! Also there wasn't a single bit of hi-vis or hard hats to be seen, and surprise surprise nobody died!! A really good yard and is thoroughly recommended.

Home Alone

Well I am on day 5 now of being on my own as Mark has gone home to do work on his mini, and jobs on the house.Im still in Guildford and loving it the shops are great along with my neighbours, spent a boozy night on NBLargo with Mary and Brian and their lovely very elderly boat puss Sammy. Went to a cheese and chilli festival, so many tastings and  great entertainment but was so hot felt sorry for the birds of prey in the falconry display. Nice visits from my neighbour Terri and yesterday a work colleague popped up for lunch ( only 40minutes from home) Decided to downsize my jeans collection just to appease the Captain so only have 13 pairs now, don't know how I'll manage. While washing down the boat this morning a lovely well to do elderly lady came and sang me a song ( so random) unfortunately I didn't know it so couldn't join in. Mark back tomorrow and I'm going home for a few days joining him somewhere on the Thames on Sunday......x Lou

Spent 3 nights at The New Inn at Cartbridge had visitors over from France Andy and Sarah and their gorgeous children Isabel and Freddy, far too much to drink all feeling pretty rough the next day. Said our goodbyes to the French contingent and moved on to a beautiful spot next to Sutton Place, which on googling it found out it's a huge mansion set in 300acres owned by a Russian Billionaire ( once owned by Paul Getty ) I thought we could sneak up to the house at dusk but glad we didn't as there were sensors along the road and CCTV everywhere including gaurd dogs on patrol ! .Arrived Guildford, great shopping, Had a visit from James and Molly ( Marks son and girlfriend ) nice meal out and more alcohol. The trip down to Godalming was just beautiful and so is the town itself met a nice lady called Kate who let us use her mooring ended up staying 3 nights back to Guildford today in 33 degree heat  wish the river wasn't so murky could def gave done with a dip .

You cannot be serious!!!!

I have noticed lately that the boat seems to be listing slightly to port, on investigating the reason for this I have discovered that Lou has no less than FOURTEEN pairs of jeans on board!!!!!!!! Bloody hell, I mean...is that REALLY necessary??

Here's some of the evidence

As if that wasn't enough; I think I found her knitting ANOTHER pair😮!