Crownhill and Whaddon - Swans Way (4)

Back out and about again in leafy Milton Keynes on the Swans Way. I wonder what treats the walk will throw up today ?

Starting point is where we left off last time . Right next to the National Badminton Centre in one of the many park areas. It's lovely to see the streams running clear and free of litter.

It's not long before we happen upon our first place of interest!

Shenley Church End looks a very affluent area with it's large houses. It is also home to the Shenley Toot, a 13th-century motte and bailey castle. A fortification with a keep, on a raised area with a walled courtyard essentially.
Today only the motte is left and seems to be guarded by a herd of cows....Originally the home of the Earl of Chester it is now classed as an ancient monument.

Shenley Toot Motte

The Toot mound and moat are most probably Anglo-Saxon. The high mound immediately outside the moat is a 20^th century cover for a water cistern. One of the surrounding earthworks could be the platform of the medieval Manor House demolished in 1774.
Livestock grazing has taken place at The Toot for many years and is the most efficient way of maintaining the grassland as well as encouraging the development of wildflower species.

Woodhill Prison beyond the footpath

We pick up the Swans Way as we head towards Oakhill Wood.On the other side of the path is HM Prison Woodhill. We can see the high wire fencing through the trees and decide not to get too close.
It is an A cat prison and one of the eight national high security prisons.It has around 600 men, mainly remand prisoners and those serving short sentences, alongside a small number of category A lags. The most notorious being 'Charles Bronson' .....

Solitary Oak Tree

St Mary the Virgin Church -Whaddon

The landscape is a bizarre mixture of the old and the new. Massive developments are taking place , new housing and business parks . All this amidst long established villages fighting back the tide.

A single Oak Tree stands defiantly against the surge. On one particular housing estate and old shack of a building still remains amongst the high tech new builds. Somehow surviving a potential compulsory purchase order and more to the point still resided in.

Milton Keynes is certainly a City of contrasts. We loop back around Oakhill but it isn't long before we are confronted once again by the diggers .........

Building Works

We are slap bang in the middle of our footpath according to our digital map . Unfortunately the path no longer exists. You guessed it , the path has been built over and subsequently moved.
It was gone 3 PM and getting back for a BBQ at 4 PM was starting to look a bit unlikely.
After some perseverance we at last found a cut through that got us back on track thankfully.

Another Robot delivery

On the last leg of the walk two things summed up Milton Keynes for me. Firstly on a  housing estate an Obelisk had been erected on a roundabout.

The 30ft high Great Holm structure was built in the early 1980’s when the estate was first developed.

Standing at the highest point of the estate, it has become a prominent landmark.
Secondly our old friend the delivery robot , slowly but steadily making it's way to it's destination.  I witnessed a couple blocking it's progress with a pram.Undaunted it simply backed up a little and went by the obstacle with the minimum of fuss.
Another intersting walk at just a touch over 11 miles in total.   

Stantonbury and Bradwell Walk - Swans Way (3)

We are back on the canal again! Seem to have spent a lot of time canalside recently which is never a bad thing though.Compared to last weekend there seems to be much more activity.
Certainly more boats on the water as people started to get some normality back after so long being sidelined.

Archie taking a dip

Snack time

On the face of it the route looks a little mundane, built up and urban. Milton Keynes isn't really noted for it's countryside and open spaces. However my walking companion assures me that he thinks today's walk could be quite interesting. Almost immediately we come across a lovely lake area where Archie is able to cool off. There are lots of safe walkways all around the city and the joggers and cyclists are out in force.

A Comma Butterfly

'Sunnytopia'  Fairy village

 As we cut across Bancroft Park we come across a Fairy village 'Sunnytopia' . It was created by a mum and her daughter during lockdown. The village has grown and grown with street names, more houses, two inns, a gym, a post office, a library, a sweet shop and even fruit juice bar. Would you believe even a 'Flora Night-angel' hospital where the fairies can go if they get sick. Sadly all the Fairies seemed to be away at the time we passed and the village was deserted.

Another surprise lay just around the corner. The Bancroft Roman Villa was discovered during MK Development Corporation building construction in 1971 and was excavated throughout the next 15 years.

Milton Keynes is not exactly where you expect to happen upon a Roman Villa. Bancroft was one of eight large farming estates created 2,000 years ago in the city area, each centred around a Roman Villa – in Milton Keynes Village,

Bancroft being the biggest of those excavated.
An archaeological dig revealed an underfloor heating system with a limestone open hearth, a bath suite, colonnaded verandas and porch, an ornamental walled garden with fish pond and a summer house.
Silver-bronze brooches for fastening a toga, decorated hair combs and 1,000 coins were found in and around the site.

A mosaic floor excavated from the Villa, was mounted on a wall overlooking Queens’ Court in Central Milton Keynes in September 1977.

The famous MK Concrete Cows

I can remember as a child the highlight of a train journey to London from Northampton was spotting the concrete cows. Created in 1978 by the American artist Liz Leyh. There are three cows and three calves and are now fairly iconic. They have been described as 'conceptual art'. 
The artist poking fun at the preconceived notion of the 'New City' being made entirely of concrete pavements where once there were fields. The ones pictured are actually replicas as the originals are now safely herded into the MK Museum.

Bradwell Abbey

The rare monastic 14th century chapel of St Mary sits on the site of a Benedictine Priory,
The chapel was home to a miraculous statue which brought pilgrims praying to 'Our Ladie of Bradwell'.
This was, it is thought, in response to the discovery of healing properties of a statue of the Virgin Mary displayed in a niche on the west front of the church. It's a lovely area and there seems to be a visitors centre and a lot of effort made with the upkeep.

Fishing ponds to the rear of the Abbey

Throughout the walk we have 'gone wrong' numerous times . In fact I think we have only seen one signpost for the Swans Way. This has resulted in many about turns, climbing over barriers, sliding down verges, crawling through hedges and various other obstacles....

It's been so much better than anticipated though. Now 50 years old there is still the charm of surrounding places that have not been swallowed up entirely by development. There is far more than the soulless society that some would have you believe.

St Lawrence Church in Bradwell Village

Bradwell Castle Mound

 Next to St. Lawrence's Church Bradwell is the castle mound a motte and bailey . Motte castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the Normans. Essentially a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte,surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. In a majority of
examples an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings, the bailey,adjoined the motte.

A Starship Robot

 It is only fitting that in this modern metropolis one further surprise should be lurking around the corner. I think we heard the noise first , like a radio controlled car. Then like something off of 'Tomorrow's world  it can rolling in to view 'The Starship Robot'. It stopped at the edge of the road before making it's way uphill and out of sight. I was expecting to see a human with a radio controller ? But no, nothing  to be seen.





Further research revealed that these six wheeled robots can navigate streets and sidewalks autonomously. They are designed to be safe and robust, offering on-demand package delivery for consumers and businesses.

After the initial shock and surprise I have to say they are really quite cute. I did start to worry for it's safety ....What if it got hit by a car or bike ???  No need to worry though as they have completed over 100,000 deliveries in the last two years. 

Customers make their grocery or takeaway order with an app, track the bots as they make their journey, then open the lid and retrieve their order with their phone.
The firm says demand for robot deliveries has surged in the last three months due to the corona virus pandemic, as locals look for contactless ways to purchase meals or groceries.
 It's not clear whether demand will remain as the virus outbreak subsides and UK authorities gradually ease social distancing and lockdown measures. Now that is something I didn't expect to see today !!
 

Little Linford Walk - Swans Way (2)

Swans Way sign

The second leg of our Swans Way and we are at south east end of Hanslope. The route takes us right past Hanslope Park owned by the UK and Commonwealth Office. Home to her Majesty's  Government Communications Centre. As you would expect it is not particularly welcoming with its security fencing and razor wire.

I wait until we are a safe distance away before taking a picture looking back from the footpath.
You can't be too careful and I didn't want to be accused of spying....

It's a dull day weather wise but at least it's dry.
We make our way down the side of Little Linford Wood. There seems to be a few more people out and about today. Maybe be something to do with the pubs and restaurants re-opening today on the 4th July after months of lockdown.

Its nice open countryside with excellent views looking back towards Hanslope .

We would pass Little Linford Wood on the other side when we made our return journey.

We passed some very nice properties close to Haversham Mill. A barn conversion in particular caught my eye.

The River Great Ouse at Haversham

Long abandoned farm buildings

We cross the bridge over the Great River Ouse and follow the river towards Stantonbury and the ruins of the Church of St Peter. The sole remaining relic of the village of Stantonbury.  The Church went into decline in the late 19th century and is now just a ruin.

It would once have been at the heart of the medieval village of Stanton. The main body would have been built in the 1100's.

With little work to be found the village went into a steady decline. By 1736 there were only four dwellings left including the grand Manor House and three farm houses. The newly built St James Church in New Bradwell spelt the end for St Peters. By 1948 it had fallen into disrepair and the village itself was destroyed by quarrying in the 1960's.

It's a bit strange to imagine that a Manor House once stood on the now deserted site. There are some tell tale furrows in the ground. Thankfully there is a handy sign nearby giving the layout. 

The 17th Century Manor was built for the son of the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. Amazingly it only lasted 75 years when destroyed by fire and later destroyed. 

Canal boats on the Grand Union

Wild flowers.

Our walk continues onto the towpath of the Grand Union Canal for a short while. We swap the water for a more built up area towards Little Linford. The woods come back in to sight and our route takes us round the other side to the way we came. Some lovely wild flowers on display, knapweed, daisies and thistles amongst others making a stunning show.  The walk in total comes in at 9.5 miles and was very pleasant. 

Gayton Marina and Rothersthorpe Flight Canal trip

Leaving Gayton Marina

I was looking forward to a nice few hours cruising on the Grand Union Canal. I had been called in to help a good friend of mine get his boat back home to Becket's Park  in Northampton. He had already done the stretch from Weedon to Gayton after having a few repairs completed.

'Earl'

It was an overcast sort of day with the chance of rain later, fingers crossed we might be back by then.

I had already  been forewarned that there were going to be a lot of locks to negotiate on what is known as 'The Rothersthorpe  Flight'. 17 locks in total, most of which are very close together. While my friend stayed on the boat in the pound I was in charge of opening and closing the locks ..all 17 of them .

Did you notice I slipped in the word 'pound' ? That's a canal word meaning the stretch of water between two locks , and can vary greatly. I shall try and slip in a few more canal terms as we go along . At least it shows that I was paying attention of a sort.

Locks are essentially there so that boats can go up and down hill. Now I am far from an expert so please bear with me on this. In simple terms it works by altering the levels of water.Either lifting the boat up by letting in water or letting the water out to go downhill.

So armed with my 'windlass' which I had been warned under pain of death not to lose... A windlass is an  L-shaped handle, attached to a square socket that, in turn, connects to the winding mechanism on the lock gate. Without said tool the lock gate will not open. Just to complicate the matter some locks are also 'locked ' thankfully we had a master key for such an eventuality. Oh and 'the cut' is a Boater's term for the canal because they were literally cut out of of the land.

Opening and then closing the lock is quite physical , particularly as some are very stiff.

The purpose is to open or close the lock 'paddles'. Most locks have either ground paddles that are set in the canal bank or ones that are fixed in the gates. Some actually seem to have both. They act just like a sluice letting water in or out. 
Some locks have a hydraulic system but unfortunately none of the ones we would see today. 

Is always important to remember to close the paddles back down again once you have cleared the pound. 
At one point a representative from the CRT (Canals and River Trust) turned up and started to quiz me on how the locks were flowing and a few trickier questions. I think I managed to bluff my way out anyway. 

The other problem is that you are something of a tourist attraction. Every dog walker and rambler seem to want to watch you going through a lock . It's quite off putting for a mere novice. 

Lovely countryside 

I think they are just hoping that I fall into the cut and they have recorded it. At least armed with my trusty windlass in hand there is the vague perception that I know what I am doing.
We pass some lovely countryside but progress is slow, but that is the great thing about it really. Life isn't hurried and its relaxing , at least I'm sure it would be if I could only get on the boat..
I'm working up a bit of a sweat with all the running from side to side to open the gates , cranking the paddles and then closing them again.

Coming through

Wild flowers on the towpath

It had all been going very well until disaster struck ... We ran aground in extremely shallow water. 
It got very dodgy for a few minutes with the hull suck firmly on the bottom. Putting the engine into reverse didn't help. Only one thing  for it , to resort to the long pole like a gondola. After a lot of effort and shoving and pushing we got some forward movement.  The locks just come thick and fast , in fact after about four hours we had probably only  traveled half a mile or so..
 

Swans following the boat

Hungry Heron

Always lots of wildlife on the canal  Moorhens, Coots, Herons , Swans , Buzzards and the occasional dive-bombing Tern. Plenty of insect life too with Dragonflies, butterflies and water creatures. It is sad to see the amount of junk , mainly cans and bottles that gets dumped though. Not to mention the amount of graffiti that is scribbled  all along the route. 



We journey on down river stopping briefly  for a sandwich and a herbal tea.We are warned by another boat that water levels are really low further down . One has moored up and informed the CRT that action is needed. A boat going up canal has had an encounter with a shopping trolley! No doubt dumped in the water it managed to get tangled up with the boat propeller.

We decide to carry on as our boat is smaller but it's tough going and progress is painfully slow. A combination of low water and heavy weed growth is not good. 

Familiar sights come in to view such as the old Express Lifts Tower and the Carlsberg Brewery.

Express Lifts Tower

The Carlsberg Brewery

As we get closer to the centre of Northampton the canal joins up with the River Nene and the low water problem is eased.  We pick up speed and cruise under south Bridge as we head for home.

In total it has been a shade under 5 miles and probably taken the best part part of 6 hours.

A very enjoyable trip and I feel as though I've walked from Gayton to Northampton with so little time spent actually on the boat !

 Safely moored up back at Becket's Park

 South Bridge.