There is an absolutely lovely walk which takes you along the canal from Wolverton in Milton Keynes up to Cosgrove. It goes from a pub to a pub and crosses the Iron Trunk Aqueduct in which you can also walk through the cattle creep tunnel. There’s also a ‘horseshoe tunnel’ and lots of boats to see. It’s a fab free day out for kids in Milton Keynes. If you find this review useful and go on this walk please do consider buying me a coffee to help with the running costs of this website – thank you.
Where does the Wolverton to Cosgrove walk start and end and how far is it?
For this walk we parked near the Galleon pub in Wolverton in Milton Keynes. There are two car parks. There is a Parks Trust car park to the side of the pub which is free. It’s quite small. There’s also a free car park opposite the pub for customers. The postcode is MK12 5NL – although I put that postcode in my sat nav and it didn’t quite get us there – so you may need to drive slightly further on. The walk we did was three and a half miles as a round trip. Two other alternatives. You can do this walk in reverse and go from Cosgrove to Wolverton and back. We didn’t try it but the address for the car park is Lock Lane, Cosgrove, Milton Keynes, MK19 7JR. OR you can walk from Stony Stratford to the Iron Trunk Aqueduct by following my previous review where you’ll then join the canal and go one way to Wolverton and the other to Cosgrove.
What’s the Wolverton to Cosgrove Grand Union Canal walk like?
This walk took us along a path along the canal from Galleon pub. We saw lots of canal boats and my children loved spotting their names and saying hello to people. The walk took us to the Iron Trunk Aqueduct which carries the canal over the river. It’s really quite impressive. Just don’t look down! A little tip… if you walk down the steps to the side of the aqueduct you can take the children through the cattle creep tunnel which is fun. (If you carry on through it on you can go Stony Stratford nature reserve). On this occasion though we went back and forth through the tunnel a few times and then back up the steps to the aqueduct. We carried on walking until we got to Cosgrove. At Cosgrove we saw a sign for a ‘horseshoe tunnel’ – we loved going back and forth through that too. We continued on to the ornamental bridge and stopped. At that point both me and my children needed the loo and a rest so we went back to the horseshoe tunnel through there and for drink at the Barley and Mow pub. At the time we visited coronavirus restrictions were in place. We decided to sit outside and our order for drinks was taken. All the toilets in the pub were designated ladies. The gents were portable toilets across the car park so I had to accompany my eldest son to those. We had our drinks and walked back again.
We enjoyed this walk, where else can we go?
If you want to carry on past Cosgrove you can do a much longer walk on to Stoke Bruerne although for my age children the one we did was more than enough. You could also explore the flood plain forest nature reserve too. It’s well worth having a look at the Canal & River Trust website for a map about what’s nearby. Or if you fancy a completely different walk that will interest children do have a look at the local walks section of my website – most of them are free to do.
I'm Laura, mum to two boys aged nine and seven. I run this website independently and free from advertising in addition to my day job. If you have enjoyed this post and found it useful, here are some ways you can say thanks and support Milton Keynes Kids.
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