Thursday 20th September 2012 Ramble 13: Wolverton Park to Grafton Regis

Thursday 20th September 2012

Ramble 13: Wolverton Park, bridge No. 71 to Grafton Regis, bridge No. 57 which is about 6 miles.

To get to the start of our walk we walked through some of the former railway sheds now converted into spaces for residential and retail opportunities (in estate agency speak). It is an interesting project as the outer brick walls have been retained and the roofs opened up.

 We continued our towpath ramble and were soon in a woody area where adjoining garden owners have built decking then steps down the steep bank to moorings on the canal. It would certainly be different to arrive at the backdoor by boat.

Just north of Old Wolverton is the lowest point on the canal, between the peaks either side at Tring and Braunston (although the heights cannot be great!). Here is the iron trunk aqueduct, built in 1811, that carries the canal over the Great Ouse river valley. We had seen this soaring structure 40 feet (12metres) above the river last year but since then it has had a make-over.  Unused pipework has been removed and the square cast iron trough smartened up with red and white paint.

We went under the canal, through a low height and dark tunnel, to see a mock-up of a lock, on the line of 9 locks that permitted canal traffic before the aqueducts were built (a previous brick aqueduct collapsed in 1808). 

The last of the flight of locks was Cosgrove lock, which is still in use. This lock is also the end of the 11 mile pound from Fenny Stratford to the junction for the Buckingham Arm. The arm became disused and was abandoned in the 1960s. Parts are now a nature reserve and there is a group restoring the canal.

The Cosgrove Narrowboat Company with two boats runs public cruises from here and also, it seems that Capability Smifff works nearby. Also near here are the remains of a Roman Villa, close to Watling Street, including a bathhouse discovered in 1958. Reading the map, there is a very large caravan park at Cosgrove, but very little of it is visible from the towpath.

 We went through another dark tunnel under the canal (called the horse tunnel) to reach The Barley Mow PH which, although past its heyday, provided a welcome coffee stop.

 The next bridge was Soloman’s Bridge, a stone bridge decorated in Gothic style.  It was built in 1880 by land owners, the Biggins family, but there are no obvious reasons why in such splendour, apart from the fact it marks the halfway point between Brentford and Braunston.

 The rest of the walk was very rural, the canal crossing open fields with some super views. We saw swallows gathering together before their long migration and another heron eager to do some fishing.

By the Navigation Inn Bridge there is the fairly new Thrupp Wharf, but mostly we were wending our way through open countryside.

Grafton Regis Bridge No. 57 was where we ended our Grand Union Canal walks for this year. We thank Sue, John, Ian, Julie, Hugh and Margaret for joining us on this enjoyable last ramble and look forward to more next Spring and Summer.

Saturday 8th September 2012 Ramble 12: Camphill, Milton Keynes to Wolverton Railway Station

Saturday 8th September 2012 Ramble 12: Camphill, Milton Keynes to Wolverton Railway Station, a walk of about 5 miles.

We set off northwards along the towpath from Camphill in the early afternoon. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny without the intense heat of summer. The hedgerows all along were laden with the autumnal harvest of berries and hips. We helped ourselves to several pounds of blackberries, so walking at the beginning was slow and Ian’s rucksack inner lining changed to a deep purple colour!

Many people were out enjoying the weekend sunshine. Some fishermen on the opposite bank to Pennylands Marina looked as though they were to stay for a week, surrounded by so much paraphernalia. We saw many walkers and cyclists, using the myriad of paths and cycle-ways that Milton Keynes is well-known for and inspired to do so by the recent Olympic successes. Certainly, below and around the H3 Monk’s Way busy roadway there is another, more tranquil world and the noise from the traffic isn’t loud.

The number of concrete bridges gradually became less frequent and patches of countryside emerged. On one bridge at Gifford Park we noticed a Bench Mark used for traditional surveying before the days of satellites and GPS.  Checking later, I found out that here it is 238 feet (73metres) above sea level and Bench Marks are quite common (but not always in such an open and accessible position).

Opposite the Great Linford winding hole is a board with information about the Newport Pagnell branch of the canal that used to start here. The canal arm was open for nearly 50 years from 1817 and there were plans to extend to the River Great Ouse, but the spread of railways put pay to that.  Just a bit later we walked under an old railway bridge that was part of the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line.  This was one of the many branch lines that were closed in the 1960s after the Beeching report and it is now a Redway (MK cycle and walkway). 

We spied Great Linford’s 14th century church tower across Gifford Park from the towpath. Over the other side of the canal looked interesting with a smaller version of Stonehenge-type stones and watery parkland and buildings.

Next we passed The Black Horse PH (formerly The Proud Perch) where it was busy with dinners very close to the canal.

The canal aqueduct at New Bradwell spans a dual –carriageway and was built in 1991. It is near the stone tower windmill (built c. 1800) and looks slightly out of place, surrounded by development that is so much more recent (not obvious from the picture).

Soon we were approaching Wolverton, the original railway town, much of which has gone now. We walked under the East coast mainline with Virgin trains hurtling over, then saw the secret garden where once stood railway executives houses (http://www.wolvertonsecretgarden.co.uk ) to reach the end of our walk by Wolverton railway station. The old railway works have been sympathetically developed, winning many awards, into retail and residential units but it is a maze and it took us a while to find our way out.

Thursday 23rd August 2012 Ramble 11: Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes to Camphill, Willen Park

Thursday 23rd August 2012

Ramble 11:  Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes to Camphill, Willen Park; a walk of about 5 miles.

The weather was just right; warm and sunny, with a slight breeze.  

We were very pleased to have Peter, Sue, Hugh, Margaret, Russell, Tere, Glynis, John, Ian and Julie walking with us today.  All logistics worked out pretty well and it was certainly nice to have such good company.

We all rendezvoused in Fenny Stratford, walked through some side streets and down some steps to re-join the Grand Union Canal towpath. The canal follows the course of the River Ouzel until Woolstone, near Willen Park, that is practically today’s entire walk. Quite noticeably, too, a majority of Milton Keynes development was on the opposite side of the canal from the towpath and we were closer to parks, hedges; a more rural corridor.

 After going under the Bedford to Bletchley railway line (which, as recently announced, will be part of the Bedford to Oxford reopened line) we paused to watch boats go through Fenny Stratford lock.

 The next lock is 11 miles away at Cosgrove, making one of the largest pounds on the Grand Union Canal. It is also the one with the shortest fall, just 12 inches and, rather unusually, had a swing bridge across the middle of it.

 

Bridge 92A is large, imposing and modern. It carries the A5 London to Holyhead trunk road over the canal. There is a strange mix of old and new along here, as there are several other modern concrete bridges carrying the Milton Keynes traffic and then in between, the more familiar, small and hump-backed brick bridges. Some of the small bridges appeared to have been rebuilt recently (or maybe just a good clean-up) and a few were skew bridges, built oblique to the line of the canal.

 

 

We stopped to eat our packed lunches in a park alongside the canal, not far from the site of the Open University at Woughton Park. Refreshed, we continued, passing many boats occupied with people relaxing and some travelling on this pretty stretch of the canal.  Someone spotted a heron high up in the trees and we also saw several ducks including the ‘lesser yellow’. One moorhen had an insecure perch and was moving at speed after a boat passed by (may be fun but not quite white water rafting!).

 

 

 

Along our route we saw notices up about the Bedford to Milton Keynes Waterway project. Samuel Whitbread MP in 1810 proposed that a canal was built linking the River Great Ouse at Bedford and the Grand Union Canal around this point, and it looks as though it may come to fruition within the next few years. Now, of course, there are obstacles like the M1 and many roads to cross, requiring many locks and engineering feats, but a route has been identified and earmarked for the canal. The 20 mile long canal is the key missing link of a large navigable waterway ring.

 

We finished at Camp Hill café for our usual cuppa, this time at the thriving community for adults with learning disabilities, where there are productive gardens, a theatre and shop as well as residential facilities