Fenny Stratford to Cosgrove, 12 miles, 1 lock
I'd expected the rain to last all day so I made no effort to get up this morning, but when I did finally drag myself out of bed it was all sunny and lovely, so after some tea and toast I set off.
Fenny Stratford is the start of a long pound that winds its way around Bletchley and Milton Keynes and ends up at Cosgrove lock. The scenery is surprisingly nice for so urban a setting--probably a credit to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation, who do seem to have put some effort into giving a country feel to the place. There are also a couple of aqueducts to make life interesting--one built in 1991 across a dual-carriageway, that is reminiscent of the one across London's North Circular, and a scary one built in 1811 across the River Ouse. This is a huge iron trough on tall stone pillars and is like a miniature version of the Pontyscyllte Viaduct on the Llangollen canal, complete with vertiginous drop due to the lack of a railing!
I'm always interested in how other boats are painted and named, so I nearly fell off Oothoon's counter when I saw a boat I recognised. It was Granny Buttons, which I know thanks to another narrowboating blog. I know that there are famous boats out there, such as the Phyllis May from the "Narrow Dog" books, but you don't expect to actually see them!
Cosgrove seems to be a quaint little place with a few oddities, such as the pedestrian tunnel under the canal that allows access to the pub from the towpath, and the glorious gothic-style bridge over the canal (blurry picture, above--well, I was trying to steer at the same time!) Canal bridges are normally simple humpedy-backed affairs, so this really is pretty spectacular in comparison.
As it's Sunday and apparently a bank holiday weekend, I pushed the boat out (heh heh) and treated myself to dinner in a pub--namely The Navigation at Thrupp Wharf. It has lovely views over the canal and the countryside, and the food is not bad, if a little pricey. Certainly the Apple and Blackberry crumble was far superior to the last one I had in a pub and the vanilla ice cream actually had vanilla pod in it. Also a special mention about the Biscotti that came with the Cappuccino I ordered at the end of the meal: it looked like it was home-made, had some kind of fruit in it, and was deliciously cinnamon-y.
Tonight's movie is part two of Emery Berd. After Ida has a premonition of doom and Cookie dreams that she's received a visit from a mysterious door-to-door stranger selling Emery BerdsBoards, Cookie and Ida have been chloroformed on their sofa and loo respectively. But where will they be when they awaken?!
Warning: really does contain a lot of swearing and disturbing imagery, some of which isn't even in the movie!
Posts
