Thursday 14th
February 2019
Every morning we have been in Coventry, it has been a foggy start.
Either the city lies in a hollow, or God just cannot face seeing Coventry first
thing in the morning. We really do not like Coventry. I don’t think we have
ever seen so many homeless people, sleeping bags, cardboard boxes and rubbish
everywhere.
We disposed of our rubbish, properly, emptied the loo then left the
basin. No sad farewells, regrets or promises to return. Just outside the basin
we stopped at the water point but the boat grounded on something and it was a
hell of a job to get her freed. We did a wash on the water point then started
our traverse and exploration of the Coventry Canal, we feel as though our travels
have started again after the winter stoppages and hanging around.
The run out of Coventry really is not nice until you pass under the M6
motorway, 4 miles from the basin and 1 mile short of Sutton Stop, and it
changes. Prior to this are many old, neglected looking terraced housing, people
lurking at bridge holes drinking lager and derelict industrial sites.
Improvements are being made however, with quite a number of new housing
developments along the route.
It was a lovely day though, the sun shining and many birds singing. A
real spring day, and its only mid-February.
The canal passes many interesting sites if you know where to look. The
old Daimler-Benz factory power house still stands, although the factory has
long since gone, some of the old steel beamed structure is incorporated into
modern units on the site. Cash’s 100 houses. Part of the Courtaulds textile
factory has been converted into smart looking office units while the remainder
of the site is being developed as a huge housing site. The old armaments
factory, the scale of this huge building is staggering but it looks forlorn
today. The Ricoh Stadium, home of Coventry City FC and Wasp’s Rugby Club. At Longford is the site of the old canal
junction with the Oxford Canal.
Daimler-Benz Factory Power
House
Cash’s 100 Houses
Longford Junction
Lots of rubbish along the way
James Brindley was the original engineer of the Coventry Canal and it
formed part of his vision of a Grand Cross of England’s canal system linking
the four major rivers of the Mersey, Trent, Severn and Thames. But the canal
system was never built as part of a national system, but more of local
landowners, factory owners and businessmen satisfying their own, local
interests. The Coventry Canal probably illustrates this more than most.
The Act of Parliament for the construction of the canal was passed in
1768 and it had two main objectives: to connect Coventry with the Trent and
Mersey Canal and to provide Coventry with cheap coal from the coalfields around
Bedworth, 10 miles to the north. The stretch to Bedworth was completed by 1769
but the link with the Trent and Mersey was not realised for many years. By the
time the canal reached Atherstone in 1771, all the authorised capital had been
spent and Brindley had been sacked. It
was not until 1790 that the canal reached Fazeley, nearly 12 miles short of its
intended terminus at Fradley. Meantime, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal had
been built, joining the Coventry at Fazeley. The Birmingham and Fazeley Company
then extended along the Coventry’s original proposed line to Whittington where
they joined the section built by the Trent and Mersey, carrying the canal north
to Fradley. The Coventry Canal Company later bought the section built by the
Trent and Mersey but the Birmingham and Fazeley held onto their section, which
explains why the Coventry Canal has a detached portion from Fazeley to
Whittington.
In 1790 the Oxford Canal was completed thus linking the Coventry
Canal, the Midlands and the North with London via the River Thames. However,
due to the greed of the Coventry Canal Company, the two canals, Coventry and
Oxford, ran parallel with each other, separated by mere yards, for over a mile
until the junction at Longford. This meant cargoes travelled on the Coventry
for the extra distance before being allowed to continue north or south and
added further tolls to the Coventry’s coffers until the creation of the new
junction at Hawkesbury, known as Sutton Stop.
The Coventry Canal was one of the most persistently profitable canals
ever built because of it being part of so many long-distance routes and because
of so many adjoining canals: the Ashby; the Wyrley and Essington and the Trent
and Mersey.
We moored just beyond the junction at Sutton Stop in exactly the same
spot as we were moored before going into Coventry. Much to Harvey’s distress I
had the jigsaw out and started making the shelf of the world. He hates any
noise or work going on around him.
We had some Prosecco in the front cratch again before going to the
Greyhound for dinner. We had been promising ourselves this but, with it being
Valentine’s Day, we had taken the precaution of booking. Just as well as the
only slot they had was a 5pm seating and we had to vacate the table by 7. We
also wanted to eat in the restaurant, without the dog, which enabled us to book
as they do not take bookings in the bar area.
The food was absolutely superb, probably made better by eating in the
restaurant. We had a tapas starter of whitebait, chilli prawns and asparagus
wrapped in Parma ham with rocket and parmesan cheese, all served on an
afternoon tea style cake stand. Brenda had Harissa Lamb, lamb steak with
roasted courgettes, flat bread, couscous and chick peas. I had an apricot
glazed Pork cutlet with sautéed potatoes and green beans.
Weather: foggy start to a wonderful, sunny spring day.
Day Total: 0 locks; 5 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift;
engine running hours 3.8
Overall Total: 331 locks; 725 miles; 32 tunnels; 7 Swing Bridges; 2
Boat Lifts; engine running hours 455.0
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