Water Eaton to Woughton Park

We were still only able to grab a short walk on Sunday afternoons, after Richard had visited his parents in the morning and we'd driven across from Norfolk to the Milton Keynes area - and before it got dark; sunset is technically around 4pm at this time of year, though on a a sunny day like today you can usually wrest a little longer. This walk, whose end points were determined largely by where we knew there to be car parks, was a very appropriate length and although it was nothing special (as the Grand Union Canal passed Bletchley and began its route through Milton Keynes) it was an enjoyable walk.

We parked one car at the Walton Lake car park (SP879369) on Newport Road, less than half a mile to the west of the Open University's Walton Hall campus, where I work. We drove the other car to the little car park close to the Willowbridge Marina, at SP883318. We were last here in March 2016, when this car park was very busy. Today the Walton Lake car park was almost full, but there was plenty of space in the Willowbridge Marina (it's worth bearing in mind though that both of these car parks are quite small, so you need a "Plan B").

We set off just before 2.30pm and the early stages of the walk were rather more attractive than I'd expected because although the houses of Bletchley were close to the can on the western side, to the east (our right) there were good views across parkland to the Greensand Ridge in the Bow Brickhill area. We had ducks (and later swans and geese) for company, plus occasional other walkers and people out fishing or on their narrowboats.

We passed a new housing estate under construction near Fenny Stratford, where there was already modern housing around a marina, and views to an older Church. We passed a lock which only seems to shift the height of the canal by about a foot, then we continued through the industrial area of Mount Farm. We passed a narrowboat with a headless dummy at the helm.

After passing under the A5, the canal follows a loop around Simpson (presumably to avoid the need for more locks). We passed The Plough and underneath the H9 (Milton Keynes' roads are all labelled "V" for vertical and "H" for horizontal), then the Open University's campus came into view across Woughton Park. I occasionally walk out here on weekday lunchtimes so I knew the path to take to bring us back to the car park. After rescuing the other car, we only had a short drive to the Premier Inn at Caldecotte Lake, which is conveniently located partway between today's starting and finishing locations. We are trying this Premier Inn tonight, simply for its greater convenience. The restaurant is currently closed, which suits us very well - this Premier Inn may normally be a bit busy and noisy, but on the strength of tonight's stay, this is another good location for a Sunday night stay.

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