I intended to spend the evening at the Hollycombe Steam Museum. It is a collection of old steam powered amusement park rides and according to their website was open on Thursday evenings so that you could see it illuminated in the dark. After an hour and a half train ride from London to Liphook, I stepped out of the train station. The two cab drivers playing cards looked shocked to see me. After a ten minute cab ride to the museum, I learned that the computer that keeps their website up to date must also be steam powered. The museum was closed.
So I asked the cab driver:
“Is there anything else to do in Liphook?”
“Nope.”
“Are there any restaurants where I could get something to eat?”
“Nope.”
“So when other people get off the train where are they usually going?”
“Either the steam museum or to visit friends and relatives.”
“OK, back to the train station then I guess.”
So I got back on the train. I had no plan, no internet access, and very little idea where I was. But then the train stopped in Guildford. I knew only one thing about Guildford : Ford Prefect wasn’t from there after all. But unlike Liphook it had a tourist map in front of the train station, and if I went all the way back to London there wouldn’t be time to do anything before it got dark anyway.
So I got off the train, examined the map, and headed off toward the castle.
The small town was quite pretty. The castle grounds were beautiful and covered in flowers.
Two older gentlemen were drinking in the park. They said that they were born in Guildford and had lived there their entire lives, which means they were probably actually from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. They told me that Lewis Caroll wrote “Through the Looking Glass” in Guildford and gave me directions to this statue of Alice.
Then the park closed, so I headed to a small Italian restaurant for some delicious pizza and bruschetta.
On the way back to the train station I passed this church.
The graveyard looked like it came from a movie, old and overgrown with vines.
After that I got onto the train and headed back to London.