We’d agreed with Dawn and Dale on Dona Ferens that we’d share the locks today. They’re due on the Basingstoke Canal tomorrow (although the top half has already been closed because of water shortages), and we have several days to get to Guildford. We set off at about 9 in bright sunshine, passing lots of lovely expensive Surrey houses.
Weybridge Town Lock has a very tricky approach. The lock landing is at the start of a large basin, but the lock itself is under a bridge round a sharp turn. Dale didn’t realise and made the turn without dropping off Dawn, but then there’s nowhere to get off so he came back out again. Adrian got off to set the lock and because it’s completely out of sight, phoned to say when it was ready.
The next lock, Coxes Lock, is also tricky to get in to, this time because of the way the weir stream comes out. Apart from anything else, it’s very hard to get off the lock landing because of the water pushing you back on. However the mill alongside is spectacular.
The entry to New Haw Lock is completely different again, being under a modern road bridge. We stopped on the moorings just beyond the lock landing above the lock, while Dona Ferens carried on to find a water point. I made a trip to the handy Co-op just along the road as we needed more fresh salad stuff.
We thought about moving on slightly further, but decided it’s actually nice enough here; there’s a constant background noise from the M25 which is only about a kilometre ahead of us, but it’s not too bad. It’s been very warm again, and as the sun has moved round we’ve been increasingly in its glare although of course that is good for the solar.
2 miles, 3 locks. (38 miles, 19 locks)