3/9/08
Today’s walk was entirely within the boundaries of the new city of Milton Keynes. It started with about 300 yards along the Grand Union Canal, then a lengthy section along the course of a disused railway. There was then another long section roughly following the course of a stream, Loaghton Brook. I took a short detour to see the remains of an excavated Roman villa, and a short time after passed close to the remains of Bradwell Abbey. At one point I had to cross the brook on some giant stepping stones – there was a lot of Himalayan Balsam growing here.
So far, I’d seen surprisingly few houses, having followed green corridors through the city. Residential areas now became a bit more apparent, but most of the rest of the route remained pretty green as I followed a succession of bridlepaths, generally with hedges either side. There was some road noise in places, but it was never too bad.
I went badly and stupidly wrong at one point, turning left despite a waymark clearly pointing straight on! That wasted about 20 minutes, quite unnecessarily. I eventually reached the point where I wanted to turn round, almost on the far side of Milton Keynes.
This was a far nicer walk than I’d expected – yes, I did see some residential areas, and offices and warehouses occasionally in the distance, but most of the time I was walking between tall hedges or across open grass areas. Parts of the brook were quite attractive. The villa and the abbey added interest (less so the infamous concrete cows!). It was all told a much more enjoyable day than I’d anticipated.