Old Moaner Travel
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list
Grand Union Canal: Stoke Bruern to Fenny Stratford
From the canal village of Stoke Bruerne across open countryside to the new town of Milton Keynes.
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Arguably the most attractive stretch of the canal and not a concrete cow in sight.
Section Length: 18.12 miles (29.16 km)
Time Taken: 6 hrs 25 mins
Date Walked: 25th & 28th April 2017
Weather conditions: 25th - sunny with light cloud, temperature 13°c
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28th - overcast, temperature 11°c
Logistics: Leg 1: (Stoke Bruerne - Wolverton 8.44 miles) driven to Stoke Bruerne then, after walk, train from Wolverton Station, adjacent to the canal, two trains an hour.
Leg 2 (Wolverton - Fenny Stratford 9.68 miles) Train to Wolverton, two trains an hour, then, after walk, train from Fenny Stratford, hourly service.
At the end of the Blisworth Tunnel we have another canal village and, arguably, the most important on the canal.
Stoke Bruerne very much owes its commercial success to the canal and it still plays on that history today.
Home to an interesting and popular canal museum, open daily April – October (10:00 – 17:00) and Wednesday –Sunday (11:00 – 15:00) the remainder of the year. It has a gift shop and café as well.
Admission is £4.75 for adults, £3.10 for children and £3.80 for concessions.
Short canal boat trips are also available in the village.
Ironically after complaining about the lack of refreshment along the canal, at Stoke Bruerne you are spoiled for choice with a couple of pubs and a few restaurants to choose from, although it’s fair to say they don’t tend to cater for the more budget end of the market.
There are two deep locks in the village which sees the canal drop 16 feet but that’s only the beginning as after the village there is a further flight of five locks and a further 40 foot drop.
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From the bottom lock there is a long flat stretch of canal in open countryside, with a nice wide grassy towpath as an added bonus. Although there is a faint hum of traffic from the nearby A508, this is a nice peaceful stretch of the canal.
The tower of Grafton Regis church dominates the skyline initially before open fields again predominate. The imposing spire of the local church at Castlethorpe is hard to ignore as you pass by the village of Yardley Gobion and, yes it has a marina.
Cosgrove is the next town and it’s highlight is undoubtedly the canal bridge, arguably the most impressive bridge on the entire canal. It has a lock but this will now be the last lock for about twelve miles.
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The Barley Mow in Cosgrove is a typical canal side pub with the added advantage that you approach it via an old horse tunnel, as it’s located the “wrong” side of the canal in relation to the towpath.
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Just after Cosgrove the canal crosses the River Ouse. In days of yore canal boats had to navigate nine locks which lowered and raised the canal. However in 1811 the Iron Trunk aqueduct was built, which is effectively a cast iron trough set on stone pillars and to this very day transports the canal across the river – a word of caution though, if you suffer from vertigo you may wish to cross with your eyes shut.
We now reach Milton Keynes, the new town which has pretentions of being a city although Milton Keynes doesn’t always live up to its stereotype and the only cows you will see are real ones.
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The reality is Milton Keynes isn’t all new and although based on a grid pattern with roundabouts a plenty it also incorporates some old, historic towns and villages.
Also, the canal totally ignores the grid system as it tracks a serpentine course through the new town.
For most of its route the canal passes under the grid roads although, some drivers may not realise it, the canal actually crosses one of the grid roads in the north of the town.
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The canal first reaches Milton Keynes at Wolverton, originally a small village it grew massively with the dawn of the railway and became a major railway town, due almost entirely to Wolverton Works, which was a major train building and maintenance centre. Wolverton Works is mow a shadow of its former self with much of the site in ruins, many of the ruins alongside the canal and visually, this is the most depressing stretch since Birmingham.
However there is also a regeneration in progress with modern flats and apartments being built alongside the canal and this is dramatically underlined near the town centre as the canal is bounded on one side by smart modern flats and on the other by the empty rail works.
As you leave Wolverton there is an amazing 525 foot (186m) long mural telling the history of the town in the form of a train. Originally completed in 1986 and restored in 2011.
Painted in black and white it was originally done to cover a graffiti strewn wall. How much longer the mural will last is questionable as the wall it is drawn on is beginning to show signs of decay.
After Wolverton the canal is soon in open countryside, although some recent housing developments have taken away the truly rural feel.
The canal passes through Great Linford, a lovely tree lined section with Linford Manor tantalisingly visible through the trees.
You are now in Milton Keynes proper and although houses line the canal for much of the next few miles green is still the predominant colour as landscaping hides a great deal of the urban intrusion.
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Quite a few pubs line this section of the canal with a handful of nearby cafés signposted from bridges.
Campbell Park is a large park in the centre of the town and the canal skirts the top edge of the park. From here the main shopping centre is about a one mile walk.
For the younger children Gulliver’s Theme Park is adjacent to the canal.
From Campbell Park the canal continues past the contrasting residential areas of Woolstone, Springfield and Netherfiled, amongst others.
Milton Keynes Marina can be found at Pear Tree Bridge, it has a pub / restaurant, originally called Pear Tree Bridge, although don’t get too excited about it, there are far better places to eat. If it has a redeeming feature it’s that it’s cheap – but then again you get what you pay for.
The village of Simpson has an attractive 14th century church. The Plough is a pub restaurant with an interesting fusion of traditional pub and Italian restaurant.
This section ends at Fenny Stratford – home to the smallest lock on the canal, just a twelve inch drop. Fenny Stratford is now part of Bletchley, which itself has been subsumed into Milton Keynes.
As an aside Bletchley is home to the famous Bletchley Park, which is well worth a visit.
Previous: Buckby - Blisworth
Next: Fenny - Tring
Return to Grand Union Canal home
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