Coventry Canal Basin
Sunday 16th January 2022
No frozen canal this morning so we set off at 10am for Coventry Basin, behind our traveling companions on Narrowboat Sefton. We have had many meetings of late (usually in the Greyhound Pub which is lovingly known to us as the Boardroom) and the plan today was for us to take the lead into Coventry. However the idea of a few more minutes under a warm duvet got the better of us…. As the lady often reminds us … “Planning too far in front is probably foolhardy on the canals”…. but you would have thought a 12 hours planning horizon was safe…
So off we set at a Very Very Very slow pace for the first half of the journey as our daughter wanted to do some cruising with us but I thinks they had the same problem as us… DUVETITUS….
It’s not the most picturesque stretch of the canal system, with a real urban feel. New build developments are making a difference to what was probably a neglected area as a result of the demise of the canal. The noise of the A444 will disturb any keen bird enthusiast, waiting for the sound of a kingfisher maybe. As we passed the Ricoh Arena, which is a 32,609 seater stadium used by the Wasp rugby union and Coventry City Football club, there was no evidence of any home fixtures today.
Unfortunately we did see lots of rubbish in and around the canal, some of which got wrapped around our prop!! The size of the offending object almost cause the engine to stall but the skilled skipper quickly knocked us into idle before proceeding down into the depths of dark freezing alien infested water, only armed with a kitchen knife (YES this was clean before cooking the Sunday roast) to free us… it was like the film “50 Leagues Under the Sea”.. We have had to sanitise the picture to avoid children getting scared… and we did not leave this on the towpath to devour some unsuspecting towpath walkers… Oh No we bagged it up and deposited in a medical research depository for further scientific analysis (a Bin)..
Coventry Basin
On the 10 August 1769, the work of James Brindley, the self-taught engineer was realised, the basin was part of the larger canal project which started in the village of Longford just over 4 ½ miles away.
The basin used to serve as an important industrial hub for the North Warwickshire collieries. Goods were loaded and unloaded and then sent towards the midlands via the Trent & Mersey Canal, or Oxford Canal towards London. By the 1950s the basin had become derelict as a result of colliery closures. In 1957 the Coventry Canal Society was established with the aim to save the canal. The society’s efforts over the last 60 years have seen the canal become what it is today. Visitors to the basin can enjoy the remnants of the past such as Draper’s Field Bridge.
The bridge was built very low and with no towpath as a measure to prevent access to the basin at night, when a beam was put across the entrance. It also had a means for a toll keeper to measure how low the boats were sitting in the water as they entered or left, from which he calculated cargo weights and their relevant tolls. It is a grade II listed building, today however it is something to watch out for when entering the basin as your chimney might end up in the canal.
Chan and Jake came for Sunday dinner and it was so great to see them after what seems like ages but in reality just little over a week- we had dinner and a few games of S***head before they were on their way. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I still think we don’t need any absence…
After more duvet indulgence tonight the PLAN tomorrow is to explore the Cathedral and surrounding area, just praying the beast from the prop doesn’t awake in the night…..