Hawkesbury (trip to Coventry)

This was my view when I opened the lounge curtains on Thursday morning.

Travellers' pony munching away outside the boat

The horse totally ignored Buddy when I took him out but I can’t say the same for the other way round.

I spent most of the morning mending punctures and chatting to fellow boaters who all bemoaned the state of the towpaths with respect to the number of punctures they are getting.  One inner tube had three punctures and the other was beyond repair.  

After lunch I decided to cycle the remaining six miles to the end of the Coventry canal in the middle of Coventry; Buddy had to run as he doesn’t have a bike yet.  I took the precaution of taking a spare inner tube and a bike pump.

About a mile from the end we passed what used to be called the Daimler arm.  This used to be used by the Daimler car plant which produced the first British mass produced car here in 1897.  All that remains is this engine or power house.

All that remains of the original Daimler factory

Courtaulds were another large concern in Coventry and all that remains now is this old chimney stack.

And all that remains of the original Courtaulds factory

I saw nearly 20 stacks still standing on the route and wished I taken pictures of more so I could research why they are still standing but the factories they served were demolished.

One of many chimney stacks still standing in the area

Just before the centre are what are known as “Cash’s Hundred Houses”.  They are weavers houses, the weavers lived on the first two floors and the top stories housed the looms where the rooms were designed to be lighter.  They never built 100 houses as they stopped at 48; of these, 37 remain.

Some of Cash's Hundred houses built in 1856

This is Coventry canal basin which has a small hire boat fleet on the left.

Coventry cathedral behind the large tree

Apartments on left - shops and cafes on right

Unfortunately the basin was looking more run down than when we visited in June 2013.  Then, it was recently rejuvenated and shops and bars were opening around the basin.  Now many are boarded up and others are looking rather seedy.

When we brought the boat here in June 2013

Looking out of the basin is bridge number one which didn’t have a towpath…

Tiny bridge number one at the entrance to the basin

…this sign explains why it was built without a towpath.

During the trip I found three more milestones.  So out of a total of 26 possible milestones between Fazeley junction and Coventry (the length of the southern part of the Coventry canal), I had found 17.  I will get in touch with the Coventry canal society to find out about the missing ones.

The last of the Coventry canal milestones to be seen in this blog!  (24/3, 25/2 & 26/1)

Poor Buddy was exhausted when we got home and went straight to his bed to sleep.  I did get him up to go and meet Karen when she rang to say she was ten minutes away. When we walked past the pub the outside canal side tables were packed as it was such a lovely evening.  We popped in for a quick drink before dinner as it was such a nice pub and chatted to a few boaters.