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©Jarvis Docherty
Years ago this was a typical pub
©Jack Hill
Dist:0.2km<br/>The clear water and rank vegetation along this disused section of the canal provide an ideal habitat for dabchicks – and two juveniles were seen nearby. Because of the screen of cow parsley [[1310476]] they don't appear to realise you are watching.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.2km<br/>See [[1310379]] and [[1235539]]
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>Water fowl chicks leave their nests as soon as possible after hatching – as thick water edge vegetation provides far better cover than the nest. The fact that these three coot chicks were still on their nest suggests that they had only just hatched. While I watched the mother called the chicks and one by one they left the nest [[1310500]] and entered the water, the mother then escorting them out of sight. I suspect that I was not noticed by the mother, at first, because of the bank of Cow Parsley [[1310476]], which also completely hid my dog, Franci, from the birds on the canal.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>Because the old towpath is part of long distance walks – both the Aylesbury Ring and the Grand Union Canal Walk and with many side access points – this is one of the busiest rural walks I have so far investigated. See [[1235539]]
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>See [[1310496]] for all three chicks on the nest.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>From the Information Board “Across the water is the brick wharf [[1310382]] used by boats delivering goods to Sir Anthony De Rothschild's now demolished house in Green Park. This stretch of canal is referred to as 'the narrows' the result of being lined with concrete to prevent the persistent leakage invading the Rothschild dining room!” While there may well have been a wharf at this point when the house was being renovated in the mid 19th century, there is no nearby winding hole and it may never have been a commercial wharf. Once “The Narrows” had been constructed a narrowboat unloading at this point would have blocked access to the Wendover Arm of the canal. See [[1235539]]
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>The fact that the concrete is at a lower level than the edge of the Wharf, and is now under water may be an indication that (a) the wharf was no longer in use when The Narrows were constructed and (b) the top of the concrete was originally above water level and has risen because of the significant silting up since the canal was closed over 100 years ago.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>A month later than some of the other photographs but the canal edge has been taken over by cow parsley. This actually provides a screen which one can look over and see the young water birds – and much of the time they don't seem to notice you. See [[1235539]]
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>This is the reach of the currently disused canal looking in the Wendover direction from the Wellonhead Bridge.
©Nigel Cox
Dist:0.3km<br/>From the Information Board “Before you is a mystery. Guarded by an ageing hedge weighed heavy with old man's beard, and shrouded by a dark evergreen canopy of red-barked pillars of yew, lies a series of long abandoned pits. This old sunken lane is now cut off by the Wendover Arm, but cut off from where? One suggestion is that the lane was part of a trade route linking the Upper and Lower Icknield Ways, but perhaps it was merely a local track to carry marl from the pits down to the canal.” The above explanation from the information board fails to mention two rather obvious facts. The first is that when the local parishes were laid out perhaps a thousand years or more ago, each was a long narrow strip with the village on the fertile soil in the Vale of Aylesbury and common land on the less fertile hills of the Chilterns. In each case there would have been a track between the village and the common lane. For instance there is “The Holloway” leading south from Drayton Beauchamp [[SP9012]] towards Drayton Manor [[SP9010]] while Buckland Common [[SP9206]] is a long way from Buckland [[SP8912]]. The track through Cobblers Pits would almost certainly have been the track between Aston Clinton and Aston Hill Farm [[SP8910]], which still continues as a modern road south of the Upper Icknield Way. The second is that if the track was later used to transport material from the quarries at Cobblers Pits it could also have been used to carry the stone from the near Aston Clinton Rag Pits [[SP8810]] which lie alongside the line of the old track. However there is no built up edge to the south bank of the canal to suggest that there was ever a wharf accessed from the south, which suggests to me that the quarries are older than the canal.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>A modern kissing gate has been installed to the entrance to Cobblers Pits, and to a track leading up Aston Hill. This track provides a useful route form the long distance walker from the disused canal to Wendover Woods (and from there to long distance routes such as the Ridgeway and Chiltern Way) For the information on the notice board see [[1310379]], [[1310392]], [[1310396]]
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>The clear water of the disused section of the canal contains large quantities of waterweed – but normally it is difficult to photograph because of reflections. This shot has been taken under Wellonhead Bridge to reduce the reflections, allowing the weed to be seen more clearly.
©Chris Reynolds
Dist:0.3km<br/>See [[1235539]]
©Chris Reynolds

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