It was a beautiful morning, sunny and bright, so we decided to stay put today and explore the local countryside. I checked in with Clive, who said he could be up around three in the afternoon to fix the leaking sink, so we set off down the towpath. There are a number of geocaches in the vicinity, but I haven’t found any yet, mostly due to my unwillingness to go poking around in hedges full of hawthorn, brambles, and stinging nettles. There’s a small farm back in Cosgrove with hens, ducks, goats, and alpacas.

Paula chatted with the owner, which is how I know they are alpacas and not llamas. Pity, cos otherwise this post could have been called Alarming Llama Drama. OK, here’s another alpaca, because cute.

We walked back to one of the aqueducts that we went over yesterday, and checked it out from underneath.

If you look through the railings you can see a boat going over. The aqueduct was assembled from cast iron sections, bolted together. Apparently, recent maintenance efforts have relied heavily on wellington boots.

I was interested in a country walk along the River Ouse (pron. Ooze) but Paula wanted to head into Stony Stratford where there were rumored to be five thrift stores, so there we went. It turned out to be a good decision. Stony Stratford High Street is part of Watling Street, the Roman road that ran from Dover via London to North Wales. Look how straight it is.

Before the days of railways, it was a major stop for carriages going to and from London, and there are a number of historic carriage inns. We had lunch in The Old George, an inn dating back to 1609.

Since Watling Street had been resurfaced a number of times since then, you have to step down about two feet to get into the public bar.

Another inn goes back even further.

At the other end of the street from The Cock is The Bull, and Stoney Stratforders will tell you that the travelers tales spun in these two pubs are the origin of the term cock and bull story. Not all folklorists agree on this, so that may in itself be another cock and bull story.

Old buildings often have many uses in their time. The building some of the Pilgrim Fathers stayed in the night before the Mayflower set sail is now a gin distillery. The crossed keys, has been an inn, a hostel for traveling priests, and a guildhall. It is currently a hairdresser.

This youngster of a building dates back only to 1863, but it has already been a school, a cigar factory, an orphanage, a school again. It is now homes and office space, with the chapel pictured containing an Indian restaurant.

I got my country walk after all, on the way back. We followed a sign saying Public Footpath to Cosgrove, and ended up in the middle of a field of buttercups, with a barely noticeable path across the middle.

The wooded ridge in the distance is the embankment that leads the canal up to the aqueduct. It was created with picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. An estimated 2.2 million barrels of soil and rock were moved.

Clive came and fixed the leak under the sink. He found the large diameter hose and fittings he needed in an aquarium supply store, thus demonstrating once again the importance of tropical fish. Then we moved the boat a couple of miles because Paula wanted a shower, and the diesel engine also does duty as a water heater.