nb Bridge Street

Monday 18 th February 2019 We were deliberating as to whether or not to move today. We want to be in Atherstone for the weekend. Brenda has a prescription to pick up there and we are meeting with Martin and Michelle. It is only7 miles away with not a lot in between. Anyway, move we did with the intention of going just 4 miles to the Anchor pub at Hartshill. We moved slowly through Nuneaton, with no wish or intention of stopping. The southern part of Nuneaton didn’t look a bit inviting, the nicer parts of the town seem to be the far side. One thing of note, we have never seen so many allotments, and all well maintained. We saw four allotment sites that must have numbered a few hundred individual allotments altogether. The north side of Nuneaton is dominated by Mount Judd, also known as the “Nuneaton Nipple”. This is a man-made hill of spoil from Judkins Granite Quarry that ceased quarrying in 1996. At 518 feet high it is visible for miles as the countryside hereabouts i...

Sunday 17 th February 2019 There is about 1 ½ miles of clear countryside between Bedworth and Nuneaton and we are moored right in the middle, about equidistant from the two. And yet last night there were quite a number of drunks past the boat, four groups in all. While they didn’t touch the boat, they were very noisy, deliberately right outside. Why are boats such a target? We are keeping to our pledge over our Sunday’s and so didn’t move today and kept a traditional Sunday. I started painting the shelf of the world, prepared the veggies and went for a walk. About 100 yards to the west of the canal is what appears to be a line of hills, marked on the guide as a quarry. I had walked the dog here earlier and found you could climb to the top, although a bit of a scramble. The scale of the quarry is colossal, both in size and depth, like standing on the edge of a volcanic crater. However, it is no longer a quarry but is now used for landfill, hence the numbers of seagulls...

Friday 15 th January 2019 I had gone to bed very early last night, at ¼ past the hour. Brenda followed quite a bit after. The result was no coal put on the fire so, this morning, after a very clear night, the boat was very cold with the world outside, white with frost. Brenda had invited a young couple from our meal last night to look around the boat, but they never turned up. While waiting I did more work on the shelf of the world and Brenda did some tidying around. We had some guys fishing under the boat and one of them caught a pike that measured in at 60cms, a whopper. In the afternoon we decided to walk the 1 ½ miles into Bedworth, it being such a lovely day. It was lovely walking along and listening to all the birds singing and we saw our first Mallard sitting on her nest. Bedworth was an uninspiring town with a stereo- typical 1960’s pedestrianised shopping precinct. There was however, a pristine terrace of Almshouses. We sat and had an ice cream, in ...

Thursday 14 th 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...

Wednesday 13 th February 2019 Brenda had a 12:45 appointment at the bank to change addresses. We first walked to the Coventry War Memorial Park, a long way, right across the other side of the city, but one of the sights we wanted to see. The park is a peaceful oasis within a shit city as Brenda said. It commemorates the 2,587 Coventrians who died in the First World War and each of them has a plaque beside a tree with numerous other plaques around the park, dedicated to Coventry VC holders and various Regiments. The park includes landscaped gardens, festooned with many snowdrops, crocus and budding daffodils, and sports areas, but the most prominent feature is the 90-foot-high Coventry War Memorial, a magnificent structure. Back in the city centre we just caught the Godiva clock on Broadgate House, on the hour. We didn’t even know about this but saw people gathering. Below the clock face is a mechanical feature that has fairground like characteristics. On the hour th...

Tuesday 12 th January 2019 Brenda has been stacking her zzz’s in after weeks of broken and sleepless nights so, although we had a late start, the day was profitable and much was achieved. We had a Kiwi breakfast from left-over steak last night, steak and eggs. We went into the town to upgrade our phones and sort out a better internet deal. We had thought this would take visits to all the phone shops but it turned out we got a good deal at the O2 place, the first one visited so we left it at that. Now all we have to do is connect it all up on the boat. Then went on to Argos to get Brenda’s late, very late Christmas present, a new Fit-Bit. Then returned to the boat for a coffee and to drop the dog off, then out again. We visited IKEA. How unusual to find one actually in a city centre? IKEA of course, have some really good space saving ideas and we wanted to explore these. Amongst other things we bought a glass shelf for the bathroom and a matching towel rail to act as a ...

Monday 11 th February 2019 We were back moving again today. We were both ready to move, we had been at Sutton Stop now for over two weeks, and really enjoyed the slow cruise, on a lovely spring day, into Coventry Basin, a distance of just over 5 miles. Before moving off we did two washes, the washing, along with everything else it seems, had also been hanging in limbo lately. Filled with water, dumped rubbish and moved off. While on the water point another boat came alongside and she had a 14 weeks old dog peering out of her jacket. A Chihuahua crossed with a Miniature Pointer, a delightful looking little thing. The cruise from Sutton Stop to Coventry, to say the least, is interesting but not very nice. Coventry is one of the few places we have visited that we have taken a dislike to anyway. From leaving Sutton Stop you soon pass under the M6 and come to Longford Junction, the old junction between the Coventry and Oxford Canals. After Longford Junction the rubbish besi...