I have this week off. The original plan was to be on a family holiday near Harlech, then that got commuted to visiting my parents for a few days; now that all activities involving being in Wales are temporarily off limits, I am having a useful week at home in my MK flat. As I spent much of Tuesday defrosting the fridge-freezer (which seemed to take hours and I was reduced to jabbing at the final intransigent slab of ice with a wooden spatula), I decided to get out for a walk yesterday.
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| One of the now-ruined train sheds along the canal at Wolverton |
I was keen to see what work had been done at the Cosgrove end of the disused Buckingham Arm of the Grand Union, as the Buckingham Canal Society has plans to get it rewatered and reopened (as noted on this earlier walk in January when Ray and I walked the rewatered bit at the Buckingham end). According to Matt, the Society has negotiated permission to divert the canal from its original route (now blocked by the A5) to a position a bit further along where there would be room for it to pass under the road. It’ll be interesting to see if that happens though it looks like a seriously long-term labour of love for the volunteers.
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| The Buckingham Arm leaving the main canal at Cosgrove |
I started out west along the canal from Wolverton Park as far as the lock at Cosgrove, where you have to walk over the lock gates to join the footpath that runs along part of the Buckingham Arm. Only quite a short stretch has been rewatered so far. The rewatered stretch runs as far as a bridge, which is clearly a focus of current work. Beyond the bridge, the canal still has water in it for a while, but this eventually peters out.
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| Bridge works at the end of the rewatered section |
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| Still some water at this point, but presumably not navigable |
I followed the towpath for a while, beyond the point where the canal bed has any water in it, and then turned off to follow a path across fields coming out near the footbridge over the A5 that leads into Old Stratford.
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| Path leading across a field |
Old Stratford always appears a little bit the poor relation of the rather nice Stony Stratford a little way along the road closer to Milton Keynes. Both were developments along the Roman road Watling Street, the original course of the A5 before it was diverted onto a new grade-separated dual carriageway through Milton Keynes.
I diverted briefly in Old Stratford to look at a housing development off Deanshanger Road (something I’d spotted on a recent Rightmove browse) then walked into Stony via the river path and past the apartments at The Mill. Caught a bus back to Wolverton to cut out the tedious trudge back along Stratford Road.
Once back in Wolverton, I was surprised to see one of the Starship robots coming towards me as I hadn’t seen one of those this far north before. I’m guessing old districts like Wolverton aren’t as well suited to them as the newer bits of MK with their wide-open redways. This one continued coming straight for me but thankfully turned aside at the last minute, saving me having to step into the road.
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| Approaching robot |
My route in red below. Start point at Wolverton Park in green; end point at the bus stop in Stony in red. The pointy tip is where I turned off the main canal onto the Buckingham Arm.
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