Water meadows, Hammerite and the Pilgrims Way.

The water meadows at Guildford are definitely the most pleasant mooring on the Wey.

There is even a resident little egret who carefully stays at maximum camera range.

Also a pair of mandarin ducks, the female seems a bit camera shy, she's somewhere in the long grass.

At least the old wood pigeon was more amenable.
This morning I led an all out attack on the deck in the front well, it's five years since it last had a makeover. A good scraping, then a going over with the wire brush and finally a coat of Hammerite.

That looks a bit better. For information, Hammerite don't do a dark blue.
Having completed my chores I was allowed to accompany my dear lady on a saunter around our environs. Just up river there is the site of an old ferry across the river, claimed to be on the Pilgrim's Way, a track supposedly from Winchester to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The name appears to be a misnomer and dates back no further than the 19thC. when it was put on the ordnance survey map of Surrey by a romantically inclined cartographer. Most of the path is possibly a prehistoric trackway.

The lane down to the river from the west certainly looks like an ancient holloway.

St. Catherines Chapel sits at the top of the lane and is sometimes claimed to have been built for the pilgrims but in reality was a Chapel of Ease for Guildford church, being for the use of the locals who lived a long way from the parish church. Stone and Bronze Age artifacts have been found here which gives credence to the trackway theory.

For anyone who is still awake after that lot, the original ford across the Wey was in this area and the colour of the sand possibly gave Guilford its name, Golden Ford.

For a bit of light relief, everyone can see what this is, like us it was enjoying the sunshine.
Jill is watching the snooker, I'm getting a few brownie points in by staying here where we have a clear shot at the satellite. Later this week we're off to Portsmouth for my big brother's seventieth birthday, daft old so and so.

Watch this space.............