Difference between revisions of "2024-07-05 52 -0"

Latest revision as of 14:44, 7 July 2024

Location

A lane leading to a farm near Cosgrove, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes

Participants

Expedition

Herons are a fairly common sight along canals

I left home at 12:10, and soon joined the Grand Union canal, which I would follow for a decent chunk of my journey. This canal was built at the end of the 18th century, at the time called the Grand Junction canal, as a more convenient alternative to the Oxford canal to connect London to places further North. I followed it Northwards, appreciating the wildlife that has moved in since its construction.

Continuing along the canal, I reached the Iron Trunk aqueduct, which crosses over the Great Ouse. Initially the canal had 9 locks allowing canal traffic to cross the river at the level, but locks are slow and lose water. This is the second aqueduct build at the site, after the first collapsed in 1808.

The Iron Trunk	View from the aqueduct	One of the original locks
(These photos were taken from a previous visit to the area, coincidentally exactly a year prior)

The winding hole and lock

A little further along, I reached Cosgrove lock, the only one of the original 9 that is still in use. Just before the lock is a winding hole, where boats can turn or "wind" (pronounced like the blowy weather stuff).

The junction with the Buckingham arm

Immediately after the lock is a junction, where the Buckingham arm once joined the canal. It currently only goes a short distance, but the Buckingham Canal Society is working to restore it.

I eventually left the canal, crossing under it through the "horse tunnel" and travelled along a section of the Grafton Way. This is a long distance footpath seemingly not very well maintained in places, including a short section where there is not any gap between the undergrowth (including nettles) on each side, but I made it through unscathed.

The horse tunnel	What footpath?

Finally I crossed a road before walking a short distance up a farmer's lane to reach the hash.

Made it!	Silly grin	View from the hash

I took the same route for the return journey, just with one significant difference when I reached a cow field. On the outbound journey, the cows had been at the opposite end of the field, and started moving towards me as I passed by. When I returned, tbc

Tracklog

Photos

Achievements

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<!-- If you did not specify these parameters in the template, please substitute appropriate values for IMAGE, LAT, LON, and DATE (YYYY-MM-DD format)
+{{meetup graticule|date=2024-07-05|lat=52|lon=-0}}
+== Location ==
+A lane leading to a farm near Cosgrove, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes
+== Participants ==
+[[User:PeterRoder|PeterRoder]]
+== Expedition ==
+[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 heron.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Herons are a fairly common sight along canals]]
+I left home at 12:10, and soon joined the Grand Union canal, which I would follow for a decent chunk of my journey. This canal was built at the end of the 18th century, at the time called the Grand Junction canal, as a more convenient alternative to the Oxford canal to connect London to places further North. I followed it Northwards, appreciating the wildlife that has moved in since its construction.
-[[Image:{{{image|IMAGE}}}|thumb|left]]
+Continuing along the canal, I reached the Iron Trunk aqueduct, which crosses over the Great Ouse. Initially the canal had 9 locks allowing canal traffic to cross the river at the level, but locks are slow and lose water. This is the second aqueduct build at the site, after the first collapsed in 1808.
+{|class="wikitable"
+|[[Image:2024-07-05ish 52 -0 aqueduct.jpg|frameless|upright]]<br>The Iron Trunk
+|[[Image:2024-07-05ish 52 -0 aqueduct view.jpg|frameless|upright]]<br>View from the aqueduct
+|[[Image:2024-07-05ish 52 -0 lock.jpg|frameless|upright]]<br>One of the original locks
+|-
+|colspan="3" |(These photos were taken from a previous visit to the area, coincidentally exactly a year prior)
+|}
-Remove this section if you don't want an image at the top (left) of your report. You should remove the "Image:" or "File:"
+[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 winding hole.JPG|thumb|upright|right|The winding hole and lock]]
-tag from your image file name, and replace the all upper-case word IMAGE in the above line.
+A little further along, I reached Cosgrove lock, the only one of the original 9 that is still in use. Just before the lock is a winding hole, where boats can turn or "wind" (pronounced like the blowy weather stuff).
-And DON'T FORGET to add your expedition and the best photo you took to the gallery on the Main Page! We'd love to read your report, but that means we first have to discover it! :)
+[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 buckingham arm.JPG|thumb|upright|left|The junction with the Buckingham arm]]
--->{{meetup graticule|date=2024-07-05|lat=52|lon=-0}}
+Immediately after the lock is a junction, where the Buckingham arm once joined the canal. It currently only goes a short distance, but the [https://www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk/ Buckingham Canal Society] is working to restore it.
-== Location ==
-<!-- where you've surveyed the hash to be -->
+I eventually left the canal, crossing under it through the "horse tunnel" and travelled along a section of the Grafton Way. This is a long distance footpath seemingly not very well maintained in places, including a short section where there is not any gap between the undergrowth (including nettles) on each side, but I made it through unscathed.
+{|class="wikitable"
+|[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 horse tunnel.JPG|frameless|upright]]<br>The horse tunnel
+|[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 what footpath.JPG|frameless|upright]]<br>What footpath?
+|}
-== Participants ==
+Finally I crossed a road before walking a short distance up a farmer's lane to reach the hash.
-<!-- who attended: If you link to your wiki user name in this section, your expedition will be picked up by the various statistics generated for geohashing. You may use three tildes ~ as a shortcut to automatically insert the user signature of the account you are editing with.
+{|class="wikitable"
--->
+|[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 at the hash.JPG|frameless|upright]]<br>Made it!
+|[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 me.JPG|frameless|upright]]<br>Silly grin
+|[[Image:2024-07-05 52 -0 view.JPG|frameless|upright]]<br>View from the hash
+|}
-== Plans ==
+I took the same route for the return journey, just with one significant difference when I reached a cow field. On the outbound journey, the cows had been at the opposite end of the field, and started moving towards me as I passed by. When I returned, tbc
-<!-- what were the original plans -->
-== Expedition ==
-<!-- how it all turned out. your narrative goes here. -->
 == Tracklog ==
@@ Line 38: / Line 58: @@
 <!-- =============== USEFUL CATEGORIES FOLLOW ================
 Delete the next line ONLY if you have chosen the appropriate categories below. If you are unsure, don't worry. People will read your report and help you with the classification. -->
-[[Category:New report]]
 <!-- Potential categories. Please include all the ones appropriate to your expedition -->
-<!-- If this is a planning page:
 [[Category:Expedition planning]]
--->
 <!-- An actual expedition:
@@ Line 68: / Line 85: @@
 (Don't forget to delete this final close comment marker) -->
+{{location|GB|ENG|WNH}}


Fri 5 Jul 2024 in 52,-0: 52.0805176, -0.8572925 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox