please empty your brain below
dg walking the GU? How splendid.

Sarah | Homepage | 12.01.14 - 8:36 a.m. | #

Good call DG - the GUC towpath through MK is surprisingly pleasant. Having grown up in a house beside the towpath at its southern end, and studied for my first degree at its northern end, the Grand Union Canal connects me to my younger self.

Unfortunately though, parts of the towpath further south of MK are now in rather poor repair, a direct result I suspect of the transfer from British Waterways to the underfunded Canal & River Trust.

THC | 12.01.14 - 10:46 a.m. | #

I always found it quite moving (historically) at the point in Milton Keynes where Watling Street (now the A5) crosses the Grand Union Canal.

The strange confluences of Roman and Industrial-Revolution Britain provide interesting contrasts.

The location of Milton Keynes on both this historic routes is an interesting one.

Briantist | Homepage | 12.01.14 - 12:14 p.m. | #

THC - I don't think CRT are underfunded - yet. Part of the deal they struck for their denationalisation was a guaranteed budget for ten years at a surprisingly good level. In any case, towpath maintenance issues would take longer than that to work through. More likely to be the result of longer term cash shortages, local/regional spending priorities, and the process of outsourcing maintenance to contractors, under BW, which has had some very patchy results. And the recent weather of course.

Sarah | Homepage | 12.01.14 - 1:10 p.m. | #

@ Briantist

and also the fact that it is roughly mid-point between Cambridge/Oxford & Birmingham/London, has the M1 very close by and a main railway line already there (though the Milton Keynes Station was a bit of a "late arrival"). It is almost like the "perfect" location for a New Town (City to be?). Anyone remember the "red balloon ad"?...those were the days

E | 12.01.14 - 1:43 p.m. | #

The point where the A5 crosses the Grand Union was the grimmest point of the walk. A dark underpass, wide enough one day to be converted to dual carriageway, where three old men stood around outside a caravan not really doing any fishing, while two alsatians approached from behind.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.01.14 - 2:32 p.m. | #

@E, my firm (property consultants) was involved in planning for MK to have a railway station in the late 70s. as you say there wasn't one originally, but the campaign to get an easy rail link was eventually successful and it's now home for many who commute to London for work.

amber | 12.01.14 - 3:33 p.m. | #

Thanks for the clarification Sarah. Looks like I fell for some canalside gossip rather than checking the facts for myself. It made sense based on the deterioration in towpath quality on some of the canal walks I've done recently - the GUC towpath between Hunton Bridge and Northchurch being particularly bad just now compared to when I last walked that way a year or so ago.

As a canal lover and frequent towpath walker, last year I set up a monthly DD to CRT. I'll drop them a line to see if their maintenance and renewal programme covers this stretch and, if not, whether anything can be done soon.

THC | 12.01.14 - 5:06 p.m. | #

@Sarah : I go along with THC's view of funding rather than yours. I live on the stretch THC mentions; CRT has pleaded poverty and has postponed urgent maintenance tasks. On a 500m towpath upgrade in Berkhamsted, CRT chipped in only £5,000 - around 10% of the total. Herts CC and the local town council made up the difference.

Greenspan | 12.01.14 - 5:25 p.m. | #

Greenspan, THC - Sorry, I should clarify - I shouldn't have said that CRT aren't underfunded; only that they're no more underfunded than BW was, latterly. BW saw massive cuts over the last few years of its existence, and welcomed the shift to the charity sector in order to be in a position to try to raise more money in the future from things like THC's direct debit. However, at the point of transition its existing (albeit denuded) budget was guaranteed to continue.

Sarah | Homepage | 13.01.14 - 9:54 a.m. | #

DG, seeing as you're a football fan I thought you may be interested to know that the other side of Wolverton station, between the station and the Works where the new flats are, used to be the home of Wolverton Town FC formerly the site of the oldest stand in the country that was still in use. Unfortunately it was burnt down a few years back and although what remained is still standing, and I think there were plans to rebuild it at some point the fact that there is no longer a ground, or even football pitch there, has robbed MK of a piece of football history.

kev hennessy | 13.01.14 - 9:43 p.m. | #











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