From Milton Keynes to Stoke Bruerne

I went by the locks of Fenny Stratford, the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, and Soloman´s Ornamental Bridge before i put up my tent on the towpath nearby Stoke Bruerne.

Fenny Stratford has been important since Roman times, being on the crossing point of the River Ouzel with Watling Street. It later became a major staging point for mail coaches.
The Grand Junction Canal was built at the end of the 18th Century and later was merged with other waterways to form The Grand Union Canal around 1930.
The canal company had an office here and wharfs along with cottages was soon built.
With many people living and working on the canal, a pub was built here. Pubs then were often described as shops as they were more like general stores. 
The original survey of the canal proposed a long level "pound" (length of canal between locks) from Cosgrove in Northamptonshire to Stoke Hammond to the south of Fenny Stratford. It was difficult to maintain water levels north of Fenny Stratford because of leakage due to rocky ground, and this lock was built in 1802 to divide the long pound into slightly different levels. Fenny Stratford has the smallest lift of any lock on the canal.
The canal provided a ready made route for telegraph wires to run beside it. Today the telegraphs successor, a fibre optic cable, runs under the towpath.

This lock is crossed by a swing bridge, the present bridge of 1999 replacing the original. Such bridges were once a common feature of the canal, but today very few remain.

Grafton Street Aqueduct

William Jessop´s plans for The Grand Junction Canal included a huge embankment and aqueduct to carry the canal over the Great Ouse and it´s broad valley. The embankment took many months to make. While it was being built, a temporary canal with 8 locks took boats down and across the river. Technical problems with the embankment caused Jessop´s aqueduct to collapse in 1808. After a temporary wooden one, the Iron Trunk was built. It opened in 1811.

Soloman´s Ornamental Bridge