Thursday 28th November Milton Keynes walk led by Tony R

This 5 mile walk should have been led by Beryl, however she was unable to lead it & so Tony  who had "reccyed" the route took over the lead. 9 walkers met at the canal side car park at the bottom of Campbell Park on a dry but cold & frosty morning. We set off in a southerly direction along the canal until we reached a blue fence enclosing a partially built flat development. Here we crossed the canal but continued to walk along its other side. We soon came to the elevated walkway next to the Warbler on the Wharf pub.

 

Beryl had planned to cross the canal & have an early coffee stop opposite the new marina, but due to the low temperature no one was interested so we carried on. However we noticed the electric boat moored nearby which offers trips along the canal. We thought in might be a good idea to take this up in warmer weather. We soon met Diane coming the other way, she had parked in a different car park & missed the walk start. We passed a frost covered meadow where the sun was making the frost turn to steam which blew across the path making it quite misty. Quite an experience. We continued along the path between rows of poplar trees until the hard surfaced path ended. Here we left the canal & turned left along a path which led though Woughton past the sadly neglected water garden. We crossed the Newport Road & walked part way round a small pond. Here we stopped for a coffee break before continuing under Chaffron Way. We soon joined a detached part of Newport Road which led past Holy Trinity Church in Woolstone. We continued past the Cross Keys & the Barge pubs before turning off into Linford Lane. This led to a footpath which went under Child's Way to pass the rear of the Warbler & the marina. We then walked along the canal before tuning off to Camp Hill where we had lunch. Unfortunately we arrived rather early at 12 o'clock to find we were expected at 1 o'clock, The staff moved tables about to accommodate us without problems.

The 10 walkers having almost finished their lunch.

Sometime later Penny & Nita arrived having done a short walk starting from the same car park & they were joined by Beryl who had driven directly from home,
 

Nita, Beryl & Penny waiting for their lunch

After our lunch we left Camp Hill, crossed the canal & made our way along the tow path back to our cars.

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

Thursday 21st November Willen walk led by Penny

12 walkers started this 3.5 mile walk from outside the Ship Ashore pub in Milton Keynes.
We walked to the Grand Union canal which we followed south. After a short while we came to a frog carving which Beryl had to kiss.

Beryl kissing the frog.

Shortly afterwards we passed a playground where Cathy & Beryl practised on the see-saw

Cathy & Beryl on the see-saw

We left the canal & walked past Camphill, then some climbed the steps whilst others walked up the zigzag path. At the top we stopped for a breather before descending to the Peace Pagoda. We sat on the wall here for our coffee break & almost immediately we joined by Sandra & Paul who had gone to a different car park. After leaving the Pagoda we walked along the lake stopping at the Japanese building before going under the A509, turning left & walking along the lake dividing strip to the little footbridge.
We missed the path past the birdhide which had been unfortunately closed. We climbed onto the embankment on the east side of Willen Lake which we followed to "The Hooke" where Penny gave us a talk about Robert Hooke. Famous to me as an engineer because of Hooke's Law & the invention of the universal joint without which modern cars could not work. Apparently he was also an architect & designed Willen church where we stopped for a photo.

The walkers in front of Willen church.

We left the church & walked past a large school playing field to arrive back to our cars. All who had parked there decided to visit the Ship Ashore pub where most people had the Set Menu of 1 or 2 courses, which was excellent value. Thanks to Penny for another excellent interesting walk.

Track of the walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

Thursday 7th November Aspley Guise walk led by Bob & Celia

This 8 mile walk started with 8 walkers from the car park adjacent to the Aspley Guise Golf Club.
We left the car park, crossed Westhill & entered a narrow enclosed footpath to cross Woodside & join the MK boundary walk. We joined Aspley Hill by the Fir Tree pub where we crossed Woburn Road by the double roundabout to enter Sandy Lane. After leaving the houses behind we left this track to climb quite steeply up Old Wavenden Heath. After a while we rejoined Sandy Lane. At its end we walked a short distance along Longslade Lane before walking through Bells Copse where we stopped for a coffee break. Although we had a good view of the golf course no golfers were in sight. We passed Hundred's Farm before arriving at the corner of the raised reservoir above Horsemoor Farm. We kept right here to avoid what Bob said was a muddy area. After dropping down to the Horsemoor Farm track we climbed steeply into Landonhill Plantation before passing the forest school & then Marylands. We crossed Leighton Street & entered Wayn Close which we left near the Fire Station to join George Street. We walked past the Red Lion, now Fratellis, to join Duck Lane. We recrossed Leighton Street to see Beryl & Penny waiting for us outside one of the expensive restaurants. Behind the old Town Hall, now an antiques shop we found a tree with a circular seat around it. This was just the right size for the 10 of us to have our picnic

.

 

After lunch we walked along Bedford Street, turning off past Eleanor Close to cross Crawley Road by the Village Hall. We then crossed the playing fields to pass Birchmoor Green & then Birchmoor Farm which looked empty. We carried on the path to join Horsepool Lane where we turned left & left again at the top of the hill to enter Gypsy Lane. We soon left this road on a footpath which led to Aspley Guise school. We then joined Mount Pleasant & crossed Bedford Road to join a footpath where Bob had assured us we would see some elephants. Unfortunately these elephants had disappeared so we carried on to join Bedford Road which we crossed by the church to join a footpath by the side of the cemetery.
This footpath led to the walk start where we were glad to find our cars still there. A great walk on a very dismal, but dry day.

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction