COLNE VALLEY DAY OUT

Hello everybody!  We had our day out as planned at the country park.  It`s in the village of Denham, about 6 miles from where we live.  Although I`ve lived in this area most of my life I`ve never been there and it came a nice surprise to see how what a lovely place it is too.  The park at one point goes around Buckinghamshire Golf Club, a members only place that is kept in pristine condition.  Despite this , dog walkers are allowed to cross the fairways as long as they keep their dogs under control.  We thought it best to keep Jake on the lead until we were out of the way of the golfers!  There is a lake there with a waterspout in the middle (pictured), and apparently the club doesn`t mind if dogs go in for a swim as long as they don`t interfere with the play.

We then made our way down through the fields along the river Midbourne and on to the Colne.  The Colne is a fast-flowing but shallow river where trout can be caught at certain times of the year. At the moment river fishing is out of season but even in season the rights belong to an angling club, much to Jim`s disappointment.  We then walked along the towpath of the Grand Union canal and on to Denham Deep lock where we were lucky enough to see a narrow boat going in through the lock gates.  While we sat and watched a swan came walking along the towpath just to get to the other side and carry on his journey upriver. It was so funny to see him waddling along ( pictured).  He looked at Jake and hissed, Jake looked at him and growled, then Jake decided enough was enough and sat back under where Jim was sitting and the swan just carried on walking.

We didn`t realise until then that we had been walking for over two hours so we decided to make our way back to the carpark.  On the walk back we noticed that part of the Colne actually ran underneath the canal lock. How the builders did that we`ll never know, but it certainly is a clever piece if engineering. A lady there told me that quite a few lives were lost in the building of the lock and I can`t say I am surprised, the canal is very deep there. What a hazardous job to do. When we got back to the car we were all worn out, even Jake who didn`t even want to jump into the back of the car, he changed his mind when I threw a dog biscuit in though!  When we got home Jim decided to do some gardening and mow the lawn too.  Jake decided to sleep on the cool grass, and I decided to write in my journal and read all 59 of my emails!

Well that`s it for now.  I have to catch up those emails and read the journals. Bye for now and enjoy the rest of this lovely Monday.