Guildford to Godalming along the Wey Navigation

5.2 miles
1 Hour 45 minutes

I park the car at Guildford Station then make my way to the river. After just a few hundred yards the hard concrete of central Guildford gives way to quainter buildings and a greener landscape.

On past the old White House pub and the sculpture of Alice and the White Rabbit. Lewis Carroll lived in Guildford during the later years of his life and died here on 14 January 1898. One-hundred-and-thirteen years ago this week. Apparently he’s buried just up the road at The Mount Cemetery but that’s for another day.

It’s a very cold January morning with a heavy frost all around, lots of ice on the path and a cloudless blue sky. In fact I spend most of the walk dazzled by the sun as it shines low and bright in the southern sky. If I were walking the other way, from Godalming to Guildford, the sun would be on my back. As it is, I think I should have brought some sunglasses with me and most of the pictures I take are snapped looking back along the river with the sun behind me.

The first lock I pass I Millmead Lock. There are three more between here and Godalming: St Catherine’s, Unstead and Catleshall. This is the Wey Navigation, maintained by the National Trust, and all of the lock s are in working order. But there are no canal boats moving on the river today; the only traffic I see is a double scull just outside Guildford, near to the bridge that now carries the Pilgrims’ Way over the river. Up until the 1960s, St Catherine’s Ferry took people across the water. The bridge was built in 1985.

Further upstream I pass three World War 2 pill boxes along the river bank, I watch a heron swoop low and long over the field and woods, and find four hungry swans looking for a handout. Unfortunately I don’t have anything with me but make a note to take something suitable for ducks and swans next time I go walking near water.

Information signs along the river tell me about some of the now defunct industries of the area that once used the river to transport their raw materials and finished goods. They included leather tanning, timber and paper production.

At of end the walk I come to the Phillips Memorial Cloister. I read the sign: “The people of Godalming, supported by donations from most parts of Great Britain, from Europe and North America, built this Memorial Cloister to honour a local hero, JG “JACK” PHILLIPS. He was the chief radio operator on the SS Titanic, who refusing to save himself, remained at this post sending out the vital distress signal, as the great liner went down in mid-Atlantic , on 15 April 1912.”

I note that the small pond in the middle of the garden is frozen hard and wonder about the meaning of the word “ironic”.

The railway station is just around the corner but there are no trains today due to weekend engineering works. The ride back to Guildford on the replacement bus service isn’t half as pleasant as the riverside walk.

30th January 2011.

I did this walk again today but I started at Godalming and walked to Guildford. I started just after dawn and it was so cold my ears hurt. There was a thin covering of ice on some stretches of the canal but when the sun came up over the hills and trees to shine on the water and frost it was very pretty. I did it in 1hr 30 minutes today.