Cosgrove – Off Travelling Together

Another beautiful day dawned and having made so much progress yesterday, we decided to aim for Cosgrove as there are several good walks here if we have extra time and the added bonus that we could visit Daisy’s Bakin Butty!

Today is Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend and already it seems noticeably busier than when we came through a few days ago, with boats moored up nose to tail. We were hoping there would be another boat to go down the flight of locks with, and as we pulled out and set off, the skipper of Requies waved and said they would come down with us. I realised this was the same boat that I’d photographed outside Weedon Wharf the day before and once we all got chatting we found out that is where it lives, owned by skipper Andy’s father. Andy was taking it out for the first time in a couple of years with his wife Lynne and their friends Colin and Jane who were crewing and doing the locks.

We met and chatted with lots of people on the way. There was one chap who had boated all his life but with two new knees, had to take it a little easier, but was still drawn to the canal. He helped with one of the locks and told me several interesting gems such as the lock gates are painted white on the end so from a distance you can see if the lock is open or shut, and also that in days gone by the lock gates were never closed when boats left a lock – that is a new regulation so that lock gates aren’t damaged by surges of water.

He was part of a greyhound walking group, who walked along the canal to access a secure field in which they were able to release the hounds for some exercise. Apparently you can’t just let them off the lead anywhere because they run off and chase little furry things! I also chatted to another member of the group with three dogs who explained they had been racing dogs, but after three or four years, their racing days are over and often owners don’t find it economical to keep them so there are charitable groups that try to rehome them, especially as they can happily live as a pet for another ten years or so. It seems that these dogs are the lucky ones.

Next there were a couple of Canal Trust volunteers, one in training, who was loving getting out at the weekend, helping put, getting some exercise and chatting to people. Over busy weekends it helps to keep the locks moving, and some less experienced or able boaters really appreciate the help.

There were even mosaics …

At the bottom of the flight we waved goodbye to Requies, made a cuppa, and happily chugged along, enjoying the beautiful day and the scenery.

We moored for lunch, and I was tempted by footpath leading off the canal, but a loop would have been a long walk, and we decided to take it easy instead.

That didn’t stop me taking pics though …

Carrying on, we didn’t want to be caught short like yesterday and find we had to proceed further than we wanted to, so instead were over cautious, and I hopped onto the bank as we approached Cosgrove to check out there was space for us to moor. Before I knew it, I was walking and walking thinking it must come soon … but there was another bend! When we did find a spot, we couldn’t pull in close enough, so I headed beyond the Ornamental Bridge and we ended up mooring in almost the same space that we had waited for the engineer before!

Having moored up, we walked down the bank in search of Daisy’s and realised it was a good job we hadn’t tried to go further, as the bank was full of boats. We found the Bakin Butty and had drinks and chocolate chip traybake with mascarpone icing (and extra Victoria Sandwich to go for Chris) then walked down to the aqueduckt and back to walk it off!

Looking over the bridge we noticed Barbie … did she jump or was she pushed?

It was lovely just sitting on Daisy for the rest of the afternoon, with the doors and windows open, listening to the chatter of passers by, who seem to like that our little boat is called Daisy!

Dinner was going to be pasta with broccoli … till I realised I’d forgotten the pasta … so we had broccoli with dhal and potato wedges instead … yummy!

Later, Chris noticed a number of people running passed and found out this was ‘The Long Run’ a 145 mile race from Birmingham Gas Street Basin to Little Venice in London run entirely on the waymarked Grand Union Canal Towpath, regarded by many as Britain’s premier Ultra. By the time they reached us, they’d already run around 60 miles and were continuing through the night and having run marathons himself in the past, he was eager to support the runners as they passed by.

The weather has definitely improved and next morning we started with a short walk across the fields to Wolverton Mill …

… then along the bank of the Great Ouse and back through the horse tunnel and over the aqueduct. This took us passed Daisy’s again, and it would have been rude not to stop and say hi, have a coffee and a yummy iced orange cupcake! Probably a good job we are now moving on … away from temptation. Or we could paddle boarding down the canal to work it off … but I’m not sure I want to take the chance of falling in as it looks a bit murky!

Cosgrove Store solved the missing pasta problem as well as restocking bread and tomatoes and we were off once more, leaving the Iron Trunk Aqueduct behind us.

Map

I was awake at the crack of dawn, not helped by cramp in my foot which made me hop out of bed quickly to relieve it. It was already light and the birds were chirping. Then I started fretting that I only had 0.3GB of data to last 6 days and before I knew it, I was definitely awake. It was 5.30. I lay in bed and read for a while, then got up and crocheted a butterfly, then made tea for us both, telling Chris it was nearly 8.00 Rome time (ie 6.45!).

Anyway, by 8.30 Chris had topped up the engine and were ready to explore Willen Lake.

The public art here has an alternative religious theme, starting with the Peace Pagoda, the first of its kind in the Western hemisphere and built in 1980 by the monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji, a spiritual movement. It enshrines sacred relics of Lord Buddha presented from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Berlin and the frieze tells the story of Buddha – here he is The first of its kind in the Western hemisphere and built in 1980 by the monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji, a spiritual movement. It enshrines sacred relics of Lord Buddha presented from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Berlin and the frieze tells the story of Buddha.

The Medicine Wheel was designed by Roy Littlesun in 2000 and consists of two concentric circles of stone inspired by the legends of the Hopi Nation in North America whose prophesies foretell an age of peace when all nations live in peace and harmony. The design pays homage to British traditions of building circles alongside meeting places and important sites. Two extra pairs of stone situated north east and south west of the circle align with the needle stone alongside the lake and join the ‘Midsummer Line’, which follows the Midsummer sunrise that runs through the Tree Cathedral to the Belvedere in Campbell Park, along Midsummer Boulevard in Central Milton Keynes.

The Willen Labyrinth is a turf maze based on an enlarged version of the Saffron Walden Rosicrucian Maze with an oak tree at its centre and bronze faces in its lobes like this one and was laid out in 1988.

Finally we followed the edge of the lake, past the waterskiing winch and a series of paths and underpasses in search of the Tree Cathedral. We could have picked up a couple of scooters on the way, but unfortunately didn’t have helmets to hand.

The Tree Cathedral initially just looked like a glade of trees and as we entered a couple of bunnies ran across the grass with their pale fluffy tails catching the light. Inside there were aisles of trees forming an arched roof which apparently depicts Norwich Cathedral, peaceful, and certainly different.

Returning to Daisy, we made a start, and saw several more of the Gyosei art works from the canal – a life size steel Shire Horse whose steady toil propelled the barges of yesteryear along the towpaths …

… Three Post Bench illustrating wildlife of the canal such as coarse fish, and water birds but also smaller inhabitants such as water beetles, snails, insect larvae, floral algae and amoebae …

… and finally a beautiful white barn owl in glass mosaic swooping to capture its prey.

We then chugged slowly through Great Linford Park and Stanton Low Park which we hope to see more of on our return, and on to the New Bradwell Aquaduct, which carries the canal over Grafton Street. I’d read it was possible to get off the boat, nip down the towpath and over a parallel footbridge to take a photo of our narrowboat crossing the aqueduct … and it is possible!

Chris was so excited by starring in the photo, his steering briefly went a bit to pot!

Coming into Wolverton there were a few more urban views …

… including a mural alongside the station …

… and several boats moored up beside a wharf development of new houses beside a footbridge which conveniently leads to a good size Tesco, no doubt stocking up on groceries.

Not much further and we arrived at Ouse Valley Park and moored up just before the aquaduct. We’d had a couple of short bursts of rain on our way, but now the sky was getting very dark, and I think we arrived just in time.

After lunch, the sky soon cleared and the sun came out and we went for a walk. Steps took us down beside the Iron Trunk Aqueduct which dates to 1811 and is the oldest broad canal iron trough aqueduct. It was the 4th attempt by the Grand Junction Canal Company to cross the River Great Ouse as earlier attempts collapsed. A horse tunnel leads underneath … so we walked through to get a view from both sides …

We then headed round the park, taking in the river floodplain filled with flowers …

… and grazing ponies …

… until we reached the brick-built Wolverton Viaduct, constructed by Robert Stephenson in 1838, carrying the railway from Euston northwards …

… before looping back as the sky became grey once more and we were back to Daisy for a cuppa and cake before the rain.

We wanted to take a turn round Cosgrove, just a mile away, billed as a typical canal village, but also wanted to make a good start next day, so once the rain stopped we took a chance and set out. This time we weren’t so lucky, so most of our walk was in the drizzle, down to the lock, a snap of the Ornamental Bridge, through another horse tunnel and back, but I’m not sure it would have been much more exciting on a lovely.