Bletchley and Fenny Stratford

At the bottom end of Milton Keynes.

This is somewhere I passed through many years ago. https://www.michaeltyler.co.uk/bourne-end-weedon/

That time, I didn’t really stop in Milton Keynes. I remember coming through and stopping at the Tesco in Leighton Buzzard.

The canals on the Grand Union are a lot deeper. There’s absolutely 0 chance you’d be able to cover that amount of distance on the narrow-gauge canals of the Lower Oxford. The small and convenient size of the Oxford Canal locks are more than off-set by the forced low cruising speed in the 3-4 deep water.

Bike is fixed!

Mostly fixed… After disassembling the rear wheel, I saw that the bearings housing was deteriorated to the point of flaking off into the bearings, which is why it was making the squeaking and crunching.

I looked into the new wheel option. Halfords was not the cheapest. But, unlike Tredz, they offer a click and collect service, rather than delivery by DPD which has always represented a pain in the ass in the past.

I think it was £5 more. Not a lot really. Arrived at the Halfords store after a few days for me to pick up.

More or less slotted it in using the tools I’d purchased beforehand.

The repair in total cost £10 for the tools. £55 for the wheel.

Went for a ride up the canal towpath toward Wolverton first day when the rain had stopped.

Everything worked perfect. Job done!

Parks

Due to the repaired status of my bike, I’ve been wandering around the parks in my downtime, almost inadvertently. There seem to be parks wherever you turn around these parts…

I went into Milton Keynes. The whole distance up to Wolverton is a park-pathway, they call it the ‘Grand Union Broadwalk‘. It’s basically a made up path the stops you having to walk along the canal towpath.

Having a scout around Milton Keynes, I wasn’t particularly impressed as a place to stay. I remember being underwhelmed the last time I came through. Nothing has changed.

For walkers, joggers and people out with the kids, the Broadwalk is a great recreational area. For boaters, it makes things manicured, stayed and boring. Some people like it. There’s no shortage of boats down there.

New year – New licence

I’d moved over 200 miles in the last year period. I renewed my annual licence with the CRT last week. It’s gone up to £1,270.

I guess this is my first stop for 25-26. I’m in somewhere called Fenny Stratford on the outskirts of Bletchley.

It’s quiet here. I’m possibly about 5 minutes walk from what you might call the ‘centre’ of Fenny Stratford with a housing estate of new-builds to my right and a selection of parks and green areas to the South between the canal and the River Ouzel which runs in parallel with it pictured above called ‘Waterhall Park‘.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went out for a ride towards the wooded hills I can see from my window.

Getting out of the housing developments was something akin to escaping from Alcatraz. I thought it was never going to end. In the end, I had to get my phone out and use Google maps to actually get onto a through road rather than just some connector road and some residential cul-de-sac.

Up in the hills….

When I did eventually get out. I went to somewhere called Woburn. There’s an estate and abbey first established by the Cistercian monks in 1,145.

The estate, is still occupied by the 15th Duke of Bedford.

It does have that whiff of blue about it. Not the forests so much, but the town of Woburn, which seems to be modelling itself on Woodstock, but without the palace.

The open spaces are pleasant. As you can see.

Milton Keynes deliverer!

Saw this little robot on my way back from my canals investigation.

Whether this saves any time or money is debatable. They’re called ‘Starship‘ and apparently, they work for Uber Eats or Co-Op, or whoever pays the highest.

You never know, if you stop one, it might be full of Fish&Chips!

No doubt there’s some sort of security device or code, you couldn’t just stop it, take the chips and pack it off on it’s way. You’d probably need to abscond the unit and bust it open, which would definitely be more criminal.

I’d heard about these before but never actually seen one. When I get close, it shies away a little. This is called the ‘situational awareness bubble’. Technical phrase.

Watching their promotional video, it’s for people that don’t have enough time, are ill or are too lazy to go down the shops themselves.

If you want to give it a go yourself, you can find the app here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.starship.deliveries&hl=en_GB. It’s got mixed reviews.

In the meantime

Still looking for a job. Not a great deal of movement there. As the weather gets colder, sitting around on the boat becomes less and less of a good idea.

We’ll have to see what comes up.

Until next time.