Milton Keynes

Our time at Cosgrove has been taken up by our usual pastime of walking . We have walked into Stony Stratford a couple of times to do a bit of shopping which is a 4 mile round trip, but very enjoyable as it follows the route of The river Ouse.

                                                                 On one of our walks we came across this lock which is below the the aqueduct.

                       This lock has been built on the site of one of the 8 locks that used to be here before the aqueduct was built in 1811.

                                                  There are some very old lock gates next to the lock but there is nothing to say how old they are.

                                          The boats using these locks had to cross the Rive Ouse. Which was not good when the river was in flood.

                                                                                                            A history lesson for you.

After 6 days at Cosgrove it was time to leave. We pulled pins at 08.45 on Monday morning and headed for the water point below Cosgrove lock. We winded (turned) and while Carolyn filled Inca with water i dealt with the waste….Strange how i always get the waste jobs. It was then off and on our way to Milton Keynes. The picture above shows water being pumped into the canal from the river Ouse.

                                                                       Our mooring for a few days at Giffard Park which is part of Milton Keynes.

.                                                                    Opposite our mooring is Great Linford park. With its Manor house

                                                                                                                              Pub


                                                                                                                  alms-houses and Church.

                                         We have seen these rocks in the park every time we pass this spot on Inca and always wondered what they were.

                                                                                       We are still no wiser. Maybe its just a bit of art ?

                                                                                  How typical is this , Tons of boaters gold and nowhere near Inca.

        On the way back from our walk this fox walked out in front of us. He stood still looked at us for a few seconds then dived back into the hedge.

The mooring here at Giffard park has all the amenities we need .shops, good walks , a Chinese takeaway ,water and waste facilities and a Sizzling pub. And how rude would it be not to make good use of the pub. We have eaten here before and it is a typical chain pub . But having said that it is very good value for the money.

We still have a bit more exploring to do in this area over the next couple of days then we will continue our journey at our usual snails pace south on The Grand union canal.

                                                                          Happy Days