A stroll to Aylesbury

Yesterday we took a few hours to walk up the Grand Union Canal to Marsworth, and then along the Aylesbury arm. It was a delightful day for walking, slightly cool,with occasional bursts of sunshine, but not too hot. Here are some of the photos.

This unusual duck had a small number of ducklings in tow. She has pretty and unusual colouring and I wonder what breed she is?

This part of what is now known as the Grand Union Canal was originally known as the Grand Junction Canal. This marker is a reminder of that history.

This metal bar is one of a pair that seem to have been built into the brickwork on the towpath side of the bridge.We puzzled about the grooves in the iron because they are unevenly spaced and of different depths. Our favourite theory is that the grooves were made by barge tow-ropes, and that the iron was placed there to protect the brickwork from damage.

Cow Roast Marina looked scenic and peaceful, albeit rather crowded.

Just north of Bulbourne is a popular tourist spot.

This is the junction with the Wendover arm. Last year we met a group of people taking their boats to the Wendover arm to spend their Bank Holiday weekend working on the Wendover arm to re-open it. In 2003 I remember walking past one part that was silted up,so maybe our next adventure will be to look at progress to date.

A brief peek down the Wendover Arm. Yesterday it was the towpath not taken.

When we reached Marsworth junction we decided to take the Aylesbury Arm, some of which we have walked previously. My memory of it was of an uneven surface filled with hardcore;quite hard to walk on, but yesterday it looked as if parts of the path had been smoothed over. As we moved away from Marsworth the general busy-ness was left behind us,and we moved back into a world of relative quiet and solitude.

A lot of the time we had the company of a powered glider overhead and a heron alongside. This clump of grass and rushes was actually a floating island and the heron was travelling elegantly backwards downstream.

Here it is coming into land opposite us. In the field opposite we saw a flock of Canada Geese with goslings.

Several times we disturbed the heron as it stood under the bridges fishing. Presumably there is less glare in the shadow of a bridge, and the canal narrows to single width, so there is nowhere for the fish to hide.

We created some interest among a herd of cows, stopping them in their tracks.

Overall it was very peaceful.

This was the end of the journey at Aylesbury basin.