Pete's Walks - Grand Union Canal, Milton Keynes (page 2 of 2)
At a junction where Swan's Way forked left away from the canal, I spotted a sculpture made from junk - I'm sure I've seen it before but I didn't mention it in my Swan's Way journal, nor did I take a photo of it then (perhaps I saw it the other time when I did a canal walk when I took my car in to the same garage for a service). [UPDATE 23/12/12 - I've just had an entry in my guestbook from "ray" saying "the sculpture was created by local boaters from junk found nearby. He was taken away by the local canal clean up campaign boat this summer 2012. A shame really as most comments about him were positive" - I agree, it's a shame]. From the same point I had a distant view of the ruined church of St Peter's, which I passed on my Swan's Way walk.
Odd sculpture by the canal at Great Linford
Close-up of the ruined church of St Peter, near Great Linford
I continued westwards along the canal - the map shows Stantonbury Park Farm away to my left but all I saw was a new housing development across a wide area of waste ground with tall undergrowth. The canal then turns south for a short while before heading westwards again. I passed through part of New Bradwell (where a swan hissed at me aggressively as I passed its family), and then the Grafton Street Aqueduct took me over a major road. I came across some Orange Balsam, which I saw for the first time on my previous walk as I followed the Thames through Henley.
Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
Another view of the ruined church
Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal, New Bradwell
Grafton Street Aqueduct
Grand Union Canal
The canal passed close to Wolverton railway station - there was a nice contrast between old warehouses on one side of the canal and new buildings on the other. A little further on I reached Bridge 70, where I turned round - this was the point where I had joined the canal at the end of my North Bucks Way walk, six years ago (!).
Grand Union Canal, near Wolverton railway station
Grand Union Canal, Wolverton
Grand Union Canal, Wolverton
Grand Union Canal, Wolverton - the bridge where I stopped and turned round. This is the point where I joined the canal on the fifth and last day of my North Bucks Way walk.
I turned round and trudged back the same way to Kingston. The walk took about 5.5 hours, but I was rather surprised when I measured it roughly on the map and made it about 17 miles (8.5 miles each way). The whole route was entirely flat with no hills whatsoever, so I probably kept up quite a good pace. Nor did I take as many photos as usual. Not the best walk I've ever done, but I think I'm warming to canal walks, they do make a pleasant change. And this was certainly a good way of filling in the time while my car was at the garage.