Milton Keynes to Cosgrove

On Friday morning we awoke in Water Eaton. A friendly young man with an alsation called Layla who lived on the next boat told us not to go shopping in Milton Keynes (we needed to get some clippers to groom Molly) as he said we would get lost. There was a pet shop in Bletchley, so we decided to go there as it would be much quicker. We got our clippers and the lady in the pet shop was very helpful. Got back to the boat and set off towards Milton Keynes. There was one lock in Fenny Stratford on the way and we thought it would be a doddle but oddly the lock has a swing bridge in the middle of it which made things a bit more complicated. We got through and carried on through Milton Keynes. My memories of Milton Keynes last time we came (4 years ago) are that it was quite neat and manicured but things seem to have gone downhill since then. The winds that day were horrendous and we were stuck behind a very slow boater for such a long time Dale got boat rage. This isn't supposed to happen on the canals! Your're supposed to get relaxed! At last we got to the top of Milton Keynes - Old Wolverton, and stopped beside a nice pub called the Galleon. Dale made a cauliflower and chick pea curry and we went to the pub for a few drinks. It had a jolly atmosphere - lots of people laughing and chatting.

On Saturday we got up and took Molly for a walk along the towpath. There were lots of friendly people about with their dogs. A great big tattooed man came towards us with a tiny black fluffy thing and we chatted to him - his dog is a cockapoo and 12 weeks old. We set off for Cosgrove which wasn't far but the wind was bad again. We went over the little aqueduct in the pic above which carries you over the River Ouse. It was quite scarey in the wind, especially as one side has no barrier. When we got to the lock an old man started chatting to me. He has lived on a boat for 29 years and enjoyed every minute of it - he is moored at Fenny Stratford. He's got through 3 wives he said because none of them liked boating. He said he couldn't find a woman who liked boating for its own sake. He told us where to go in Cosgrove for the shop and helped me with the lock gates. Cosgrove is a pretty little village, very quiet, with a nice pub which we visited later on. You have to go through an old horse tunnel (shown above) to get there. This is a pub that restores your faith in pubs - very old building, unspoilt and full of atmosphere, with good food to boot. We had a couple of drinks and did a bit of people-watching then came back and had the remains of our curry and bread and butter pudding which I had made earlier.