A Walk Beside The Grand Union

We were without the car. We were told not to drive it, after our adventure on the M1 on Saturday. It hasn't gone anywhere. It was left on our drive when we were bought back home by the rescue truck on Saturday evening. It will have to remain inoperative until we can find a mechanic who can let us know the extent of the fault and how much it is going to cost. Regrettable, considering that it's a little over a week ago since the confounded thing had to have the clutch repaired when we visited Daniel in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

As a result of all of this we were determined to not let it upset our time together, with Carol on summer holiday. We wanted to have some sort of walk and hd taken both dogs for walks to the shop in Galloways in Coffee Hall as well as the local shop in Eaglestone. We decided on walking into the centre of Milton Keynes and take the route along the towpath that runs alongside the Grand Union Canal, which is only a short walk along the Redway which runs behind our home.

The weather was overcast, but at least it was dry when we set out. We took the minimum of items with us, but had intended visiting Marks and Spencers in the shopping centre as we needed to get fruit. Without the car it was going to be difficult to do our usual weekly shop, as with the amount we generally buy it fills the boot of the car, so we had ordered using Sainsbury's on-line, and booked the delivery for Tuesday morning. 

It's a fairly steady walk along the canal path and we didn't meet many people, except for a couple of people walking their dogs. We couldn't have taken our dogs with us because we ow;don't have been able to take them into the shopping centre. We had been surprised by how many dogs there were at Calke Abbey last Saturday. We were even more surprised, as well as shocked, when we saw two dogs which had been left by some visitors to this National Trust property's car park, because we know it is unwise to leave your dog in your car as it can be fatal to a dog if left in a hot car interior, although it was particularly hot last Saturday.

We arrived in the city centre and walked into the shopping centre through John Lewis. We had coffee and chocolate croissants in a new-by Cafe Nero branch and then visited a new store which had opened next door called Tiger, which, it turns out, is a Danish company. They sell a very reasonably-priced range of products such as stationary, toys, artists materials, games and food. We purchased some things and then walked towards Marks and Spencers which is at the opposite end of the shopping centre. We went into Superdrug and then Marks and Spencer. By now time was moving on so we decided to have something to eat in M and S, really tasty roast meat in burger buns. Actually some of the best we've tasted. We managed to go into the Marks and Spencer food hall and buy food for tonight's dinner.

We had spent a couple of hours in the shopping centre and then caught the number 5 bus back home from just outside the shopping centre. It had begun to rain, but not very heavy thankfully.