Through Britain

My ticket (an off-peak day return with a senior railcard and a freedom pass) was too complicated for the ticket machine. I joined a long queue which was quite static for a while. There were eleven positions for selling tickets but only between two and four were operational. The multi-national queue had to be stoical.

The person ahead of me looked back with an expression that suggested he wouldn't mind a talk. He was queuing to get a refund on his ticket. The train to Penrith for a job interview at 12 noon had been cancelled so he couldn't make the appointment. This mattered as he hadn't worked for 18 months. He was a chemical engineer. In the 1960s there'd been 22 refineries where he might have found employment but now there were just four.

I caught a fast train bound for Birmingham which dropped me off at Leighton Buzzard and I was soon on the canal. After a spell I passed the Braunston 46 mile sign. For almost the whole way to Bletchley the River Ouzel kept company with the canal. It's a tributary of the Great Ouse, which it joins at Newport Pagnell, just north of Milton Keynes, and rises in the Chiltern Hills. The river has a flood plain which is normally inundated in winter but dry for the summer.

The Greensand Ridge Walk starts its 40 mile journey in Leighton Buzzard. For a while it shared the towpath before heading north east. The route follows the Greensand Ridge through gentle hills and small valleys – densely wooded with rich wildlife.

I passed two attractive pubs on the canal. The Globe Inn is just north of Leighton Buzzard and 3 Locks is near Stoke Hammond.

I reached Bletchley and left the canal with the idea of finding Bletchley Station. Misled by a bent directional sign, I headed off towards Water Eaton. It was quite some time before I acknowledged my error and retraced. Heavy showers reflected and reinforced my mood. By way of compensation the Euston train came in barely five minutes after I reached the station.

Distance today 8.44 miles; total 141.

I decided not to return to the point at which I left the canal last time out. Instead I followed the B4034 once I'd left Bletchley Station. I was soon amongst commercial sheds and close to a large football stadium (too grand I thought for a League Two side). I crossed the A5 and entered the area of Beanhill, Ashland and Netherfield. Once over the A421 I entered Eagleston near the hospital in Wroughton on the Green. I saw narrow boats but they occupied a marina not canal-side moorings. When I reached the canal I saw that the towpath was on the far side. A canal side road brought me to a bridge and I was back on the towpath.

Near Campbell Park I discovered there were ambitious plans for a waterway all the way to Bedford. It was to start by connecting the canal to Willen Lake. This hadn't yet happened.

I encountered several herons. They seem solitary birds, each in charge of its own stretch of water. I disturbed one heron which flew off as I drew near and settled on the towpath further on. When I reached it the same thing happened. Next time I stopped just before I reached the bird, about three yards away. The heron watched me intently but didn't move. At intervals I edged forward and got slightly closer to the bird than before. The heron became bored with this game, took off and settled on the far side of the canal.

The towpath became narrow and little used. Beside it an asphalted broad walk, lined with poplar trees, was far more popular with passers-by. I alternated between the two and came up to a group of three men beside a narrow boat. Two of them were attempting to place a rope over a high branch. One man climbed on the shoulders of the other to reach the branch. A voluble third man explained that they were trying to set up a hammock. This man had a smiley face and a very odd hairstyle which might have been an attempt at dreadlocks. He asked where I'd come from and, when I told him, he seemed genuinely interested. I was sufficiently encouraged to tell him about my project and that I had a website. David, as he was called, became quite excited and got the website up on his phone and then copied it to some friends. He became so enthusiastic that he asked me for a hug and established that he would be able to contact me through the website. Jokingly he asked for my bank details. No women appeared throughout this episode but I was told there were two inside the boat. One of the other two men, who were mostly silent, quipped that they were kept in chains. Eventually I moved on.

The canal turned westward as it neared Newport Pagnell. To the north there was a watery landscape through which the Great Ouse ran. I passed through Great Linford and New Bradwell where the canal crossed high above a road on a viaduct.

I was aiming for Wolverton Station but it wasn't where it used to be on the towpath side of the canal. Apparently a new station had been opened in 2012 on the other side. The station was unattended and offered little in way of shade. A London train was due in 45 minutes. Later I became aware that engineering works dictated that the few passengers would be taken on their way by a replacement bus. I noticed a bus parked on the road near the station but the driver told me he was going to Northampton. Suddenly the platform sign indicated the next London train in a further hour's time. Of the replacement bus there was no sign. The thought of another hour on that uncomfortable station was appalling. There was then an announcement that the London train was coming in on Platform 2 not 4 as previously displayed. I dashed onto the bridge as I could see there was already a train standing on Platform 2. The platform was adjacent to Platform 3 and the two platforms were separated by a high metal barrier (why?). The stairs took me down to Platform 3. I couldn't see any opening in this barrier so I ran up the stairs thinking there must be access to it down another staircase. There wasn't so I ran down the stairs with the idea of begging the train not to leave without me. A woman guard on the platform asked me to stop running as the train wouldn't leave without me. I then noticed that there was an opening in the barrier so I went through it and collapsed onto a seat on the train.

Distance today 10.31 miles; total 151.31.

This was to be a longish day so it was fortunate for me that it was cool, cloudy and dry. I caught the 8.23 Birmingham train from Euston which deposited me at Wolverton at 9.11.

Wolverton is one of the towns consumed by the new town of Milton Keynes in the 1960s. Wolverton itself was a railway town on the line connecting London and Birmingham opened in 1838. Wolverton's Railway Works is the longest continuously operating railway works in the world.

Shortly after leaving Wolverton, I came to the Iron Trunk Viaduct, which takes the canal over the Great Ouse (not much more than a largish stream at this point). A previous viaduct had collapsed and the current one was built in 1808. Without it there needed to be eight locks to take the canal down and then up again and also a crossing of the Great Ouse, which must be a more formidable enterprise in winter.

Soon after the village of Cosgrove, I reached a bridge with the Navigation Inn nearby. I recollect that this was a crunch point on the Grand Union Canal Run. It was the halfway check point preceded by a lengthy rural stretch which most competitors had to face at night. One had to reach it in seventeen and a half hours or be disqualified. If one meant to carry on it was dangerous to linger after one had forced down whatever food was on offer. It was essential to eat even if food, any food, was the last thing one wanted.

Later I passed Grafton Regis, a village just west of the canal. I wondered what the royal connection might be. In 1464 Edward IV secretly married Elizabeth Woodville (from an important local family). Their grandson, Henry VIII, acquired the manor house, extended it and spent most of the summers of his reign there. It was his decision to call it Grafton Regis.

A flight of locks climbed up to Stoke Bruerne. This has a Canal Museum and restaurants and was a hive of activity. Soon afterwards I reached Blisworth Tunnel. The towpath ended so I took a track which eventually came to a road. I stopped to consult the map and another walker with a pack came up. He liked to walk along the canal, staying at night in places as close to the canal as he could find.

Blisworth Hill had been a major obstacle to the canal builders. They'd completed the canal on either side of the hill before tackling the tunnel. Horses took goods being transported by canal boats over the hill and a tramway was constructed so that each horse could take a bigger load on rails. Work on the tunnel began in 1793. It's one and three quarter miles long and the tools being used were picks and shovels. A collapse cost the lives of 14 men so the work was abandoned. Later it restarted and the tunnel opened in 1805. Without horses boats had to be poled or legged through. Men called leggers would lie on the roof of the boat and push it through by using their legs on the tunnel's ceiling. From 1871 steam tugs pulled boats through. The tunnel was wide enough for two narrow boats to pass each other.

I rejoined the canal at Blisworth. There I encountered a man covered with tattoos and his partner. They'd parked their car and carried two flat bottomed light-weight craft (probably inflatables) down to the water. The man told me that his partner loved the wildlife and they planned to go up the Northampton Arm in search of it.

I took the Northampton Arm myself and endured a noisy session as the A23 ran alongside, invisible behind a barrier of foliage. I passed underneath the M1. I left the canal to make for the station. I asked a man the way. He was listening to the football on the radio. I asked him the score. He said it was the Cobblers (Northampton Town) and they were drawing 0-0. He gave me directions and I soon reached the station, an impressive modern building in the town centre.

Distance today 17.34; total 168.65.

Today, for the first time on Through Britain, I was on totally unfamiliar ground. Just after 9 a.m. I headed north from Northampton Station. Almost immediately I came upon the postern gate of Northampton Castle. The word postern gate indicates a secondary door or gate in a fortification, often in a concealed location. Northampton Castle, now non-existent, was a major castle in medieval times, one day's ride from London. Parliament sometimes sat in the castle, tournaments were held there as was the trial of Thomas Beckett. It was placed just outside the town to the west, defended by deep ditches on three sides and by the River Nene on the other. King John visited the castle 30 times and moved the royal treasury there in 1205.

Quite early on I tripped and crashed onto the pavement. My elbow, hands and left leg stung but I didn't appear to be seriously incapacitated. I pressed on at once but, soon after, stopped to apply anti-septic cream to some of the affected areas.
The O.S. Map showed open country just before the A5199 crossed the River Nene. This line had now been breached by housing estates either completed or in the course of construction. I reached Boughton Station at the start of a heritage railway line known as the Northampton and Lamport Railway. The line between Northampton and Market Harborough had been closed by British Rail in 1981 and they removed much of the infrastructure. In 1984 a group was formed to reopen part of the line as a heritage railway. Passenger trains now operate on Sundays on a stretch about one and a half miles long between Boughton and the station for Brampton and Pitsford. An extension north to Spratton remains at the planning stage. The line is run by volunteers and depends on private funding.

The Midshires Way keeps company with the railway for a while and then continues beyond it along the route of the original railway line. It is much used by walkers, runners and cyclists as a traffic free zone. At intervals there'd be a road crossing with a car park to accommodate these people. The path is firm and straight, without noticeable gradients, and heads almost directly north. For my purposes it was ideal. I skirted the village of Brixworth, crossed the A508 near Lamport, and went under the A14.

Beyond the A14 I came upon Kelmarsh Tunnel, 520 yards long. Inside it was very dark with no lighting. I had to aim for the distant light at the far end of the tunnel. A cyclist, who entered the tunnel just ahead of me, was silhouetted agains the exit. It was impossible to see where one was placing one's feet or where the side walls were. I brushed against a brick-built protuberance to my left. There was no way of seeing walkers or cyclists without lights so I developed a persistent cough to announce my presence. In about the middle a shaft cast a pale light on the tunnel floor. The shaft was enclosed by bricks and showed that the tunnel was quite far underground. Subsequently I came to the Oxenden Tunnel. This was of similar length. Cyclists came through but they did have lights. The ground was wetter and muddier than Kelmarsh.

After a spell alongside the A508, I entered Market Harborough. There was a fine park next to the path. I went through an area of supermarkets to reach the station. The train back to London St. Pancras only stopped at Kettering.

Distance today 18.28 miles; total 186.93.