Thursday 21st November Willen walk led by Penny

12 walkers started this 3.5 mile walk from outside the Ship Ashore pub in Milton Keynes.
We walked to the Grand Union canal which we followed south. After a short while we came to a frog carving which Beryl had to kiss.

Beryl kissing the frog.

Shortly afterwards we passed a playground where Cathy & Beryl practised on the see-saw

Cathy & Beryl on the see-saw

We left the canal & walked past Camphill, then some climbed the steps whilst others walked up the zigzag path. At the top we stopped for a breather before descending to the Peace Pagoda. We sat on the wall here for our coffee break & almost immediately we joined by Sandra & Paul who had gone to a different car park. After leaving the Pagoda we walked along the lake stopping at the Japanese building before going under the A509, turning left & walking along the lake dividing strip to the little footbridge.
We missed the path past the birdhide which had been unfortunately closed. We climbed onto the embankment on the east side of Willen Lake which we followed to "The Hooke" where Penny gave us a talk about Robert Hooke. Famous to me as an engineer because of Hooke's Law & the invention of the universal joint without which modern cars could not work. Apparently he was also an architect & designed Willen church where we stopped for a photo.

The walkers in front of Willen church.

We left the church & walked past a large school playing field to arrive back to our cars. All who had parked there decided to visit the Ship Ashore pub where most people had the Set Menu of 1 or 2 courses, which was excellent value. Thanks to Penny for another excellent interesting walk.

Track of the walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

Thursday 7th November Aspley Guise walk led by Bob & Celia

This 8 mile walk started with 8 walkers from the car park adjacent to the Aspley Guise Golf Club.
We left the car park, crossed Westhill & entered a narrow enclosed footpath to cross Woodside & join the MK boundary walk. We joined Aspley Hill by the Fir Tree pub where we crossed Woburn Road by the double roundabout to enter Sandy Lane. After leaving the houses behind we left this track to climb quite steeply up Old Wavenden Heath. After a while we rejoined Sandy Lane. At its end we walked a short distance along Longslade Lane before walking through Bells Copse where we stopped for a coffee break. Although we had a good view of the golf course no golfers were in sight. We passed Hundred's Farm before arriving at the corner of the raised reservoir above Horsemoor Farm. We kept right here to avoid what Bob said was a muddy area. After dropping down to the Horsemoor Farm track we climbed steeply into Landonhill Plantation before passing the forest school & then Marylands. We crossed Leighton Street & entered Wayn Close which we left near the Fire Station to join George Street. We walked past the Red Lion, now Fratellis, to join Duck Lane. We recrossed Leighton Street to see Beryl & Penny waiting for us outside one of the expensive restaurants. Behind the old Town Hall, now an antiques shop we found a tree with a circular seat around it. This was just the right size for the 10 of us to have our picnic

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After lunch we walked along Bedford Street, turning off past Eleanor Close to cross Crawley Road by the Village Hall. We then crossed the playing fields to pass Birchmoor Green & then Birchmoor Farm which looked empty. We carried on the path to join Horsepool Lane where we turned left & left again at the top of the hill to enter Gypsy Lane. We soon left this road on a footpath which led to Aspley Guise school. We then joined Mount Pleasant & crossed Bedford Road to join a footpath where Bob had assured us we would see some elephants. Unfortunately these elephants had disappeared so we carried on to join Bedford Road which we crossed by the church to join a footpath by the side of the cemetery.
This footpath led to the walk start where we were glad to find our cars still there. A great walk on a very dismal, but dry day.

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction