Pete's Walks- Marsworth Canal Walk (page 3 of 3)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
The path then went over a rather rickety style (the far side was very muddy indeed!) and continued close to the left edge of a large meadow or pasture. It then turned left to run between fences, with the embankment of the A41 dual carriageway on my right. This section soon became very muddy, and ended with a flight of steps up to a lane. I turned right, immediately crossing over the dual carriageway, and followed the lane for almost half a mile until I reached the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal, where I turned right.
The footpath from Buckland church
The footpath from Buckland church, beside the A41
The steps where the path from Buckland church reaches the lane
The lane, just after crossing the bridge over the A41 - I only had to walk the bit of the lane you can see here, the Aylesbury Arm of the canal is behind the hedge on the far side of the green field
There was a bench here where I joined the Aylesbury Arm, so I stopped to eat my lunch. I then set off along the canal towpath, with the canal on my left. It was now a pleasant but uneventful two and a half mile stretch alongside the Aylesbury Arm, until it joined the main part of the Grand Union Canal back at Marsworth. I stayed on the towpath as it turned right here, and soon came to a bridge where I finally left the canal - the car park was a short way to the right, my parked car a little distance to the right.
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union canal, taken from where I joined it (there was a convenient bench here where I had my sandwiches)
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal (this is heading away from Aylesbury, back to Marsworth)
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal, almost back at Marsworth
Where the Aylesbury Arm joins the main part of the Grand Union canal
The Grand Union Canal, Marsworth (the white van is on the bridge where I left the canal)
I've done this walk a few times, in both directions, but it had been a few years since the last time. It suited my purposes today, as I had only a few hours to spare and also because I was breaking in a new pair of leather walking boots (the fabric ones that have not proved very waterproof will be fine for the summer months). It was a pleasant enough walk, but inevitably very flat (canal walks are like that, for some reason!). I was disappointed not to see anything in the way of wildlife (there was just one Red Kite, over the field on my left when I was walking next to the A41), having seen quite a bit when I did this walk in 2009. But, as the photos show, it was a fine day and the canal made for an attractive companion for much of the walk.