St Catherine's Chapel and Martyn and Kate

 Wednesday 14th July 2021 between Guildford and Godalming.

A free morning afforded the opportunity to go for a walk to see if we could find the ruins of St Catherine's Chapel, after whom the Lock and adjacent hill are named. The chapel is on top of the greensand ridge and we can see it clearly from the path to our mooring; it makes a lovely sight, surrounded by trees.

We set off down the towpath to the bridge that spans the river next to a steep cliff of yellow-gold sand, which was always a favourite place for R's children and is now also much loved by his grandchildren.

Next to the bridge is a small natural spring and grotto with a stone seat and a tiny bridge over the spring.

There used to be a ferry crossing here to carry people across the river on the Pilgrim's Way before the bridge was constructed. This path now forms part of the North Downs Way. Thinking that we could access the chapel from the top of the sandy slope, we climbed up to the top, but found our way barred by security fencing, so had to turn back.

As we gingerly descended back down, we photographed the bridge and sands through the trees. Although out of sight in the photo, the sands have formed a natural beach beside the river, hence its irresistible draw for kiddies - and dogs!

We decided to go up the little lane that led down to the ferry grotto to see if we could access the chapel from the other side. As we started, we saw a lovely little poem on a plaque just next to the source of the spring.

It turned out that the top of "Ferry Lane" led to a large grassy area called St Catherine's Common; a delight full of wild flowers and with wonderful views to the east.

The ruined chapel was a little gem, built at the end of the 13th century. 

In 1308, King Edward II granted the owner the right to hold a five day fair every year. JMW Turner painted a picture of the fair in 1830, by which time it had been reduced to a two day fair, but it is still clear that a good time was had by all. Turner's painting is top right in the photo.

Back at MM, M's friends from the gym, Martyn and Kate, arrived by train after work.

They most generously brought a bottle of champagne and a tin of delicious shortbread biscuits. We started with the champagne!

We celebrated the fact that they have finally managed to get to MM after years of planning!

It's that low bridge again!!

We had a lovely picnic supper on the bank beside St Catherine's Lock and sat chatting until we noticed that the sun was going down and the light was beginning to fade.

By the time that we dropped them back at Millmead, had turned MM around, and answered questions about boating from teenagers in the park, it was dark.

We cruised gently back to the water meadows in the dark with just our navigation lights on and moored up for the night - much to the bemusement of late night drinkers on the terrace of the Weyside Inn who thought they were looking at a stealth boat slipping silently past!

Today: 3 miles, 2 locks and 1.7 hours.

Trip: 276 miles 154 locks and 145.0 hours.