Thursday 3rd April Wolverton/Calverton walk along the Ouse led by Tony R

11 walkers met at the Wolverton House car park & were join by another 4 who parked in the public car park as they were not staying for lunch. It was a bright & sunny day as we crossed Stratford Road & walked up the footpath parallel to the A5 past a new building site. We passed balancing ponds on the left  before reaching the top of the incline where we turned right & crossed over the A5 by means of a bridge. We continued through the housing estate of Galley Hill passing a school & shops, on reaching  a road we turned right to arrive at a roundabout which we crossed. We continued on with a large hedge on our left. when we came to a gap in the hedge we went through it to meet a footpath. We followed this path to a fork where we took the right hand fork. Shortly afterwards we came to a gate leading to fields. In the fields were sheep & bullocks which we gave a wide berth before leaving the fields by Calverton church. We stopped in the churchyard for a coffee break 7 noticed that a service was going on inside the church. on leaving the churchyard we passed some lovely thatched cottages where we stopped for a photo.

After the photo we carried on along the road before crossing it to join a footpath alongside the River Great Ouse. We followed the river for several miles. When we came to the water mill on mill Lane Penny left us to walk back to Wolverton House. The rest of us continued onwards until we passed through the horse tunnel under the Grand Union Canal by the Iron Trunk aqueduct. Here we left the river & followed the canal until steps allowed us to reach the main road. We turned right past the Dolphin pub but almost immediately left the road through a gate onto a footpath which led past Old Wolverton Church. After the church we crossed a large field & the walked through a wood to arrive at the entrance to Wolverton House. We entered to find Penny sitting at a large table laid with the 12 places that I had previously reserved. We all had a enjoyable lunch to finish the 6.5 mile ramble.