The heating goes on at 0630 and after a few minutes I get up and make the tea and feed Macy. I did the same this morning except that when I got up it was 0745! Where did that hour disappear to? As you can see we are sleeping very well. We finally got going after 1000 and pottered along down the end bit of the Coventry Canal. The towpath side was clean and tidy enough but the offside was a bit of a mess with rubbish. There seemed to be many shopping outlets built on derelict land and this made us think that the centre would be laid waste.
Macy on the roof!
Macy has been scared to come out when the engine is running so today I got her out and made her stay out so that she got used to it a bit more. She found a nice spot under the solar panels to watch the world go by. The site of the Courtald's factory that produced the first man made fibre in the world has been laid waste, on both sides of the canal and the ordnance factory was also leveled and just bare waiting for something to happen. One factory that was still there was the Cash's Hundred's. These three storey terraced houses were built with the top floor for each family's loom. They were all driven by belt from a steam engine. However there were never 100 house, only 48 and there are 37 remaining.
Cash's Hundred's terrace.
There was very little traffic and a few moored boats. Towards the end there was signs of a bit of redevelopment, but nothing on the scale of Manchester, Birmingham or Leeds. The basin has got lovely old covered warehouse on one side and new shops on the other, half of which are closed. The basin is a 'Y' shape and there were two other boats there. In the base of the 'Y' is a statue of James Brindley (1716 to 1772). He was the main canal pioneer and he had the vision to unite the Thames, Severn Trent and Mersey by a crossroads of canals.
James Brindley watching over 'Holderness'.
The canal basin is only a few minutes walk away from the centre on the city. There is an inner city ring road and once over this on a walk way you are just about there. The first place we saw was Primark and the second a Weatherspoons pub called the 'Flying Standard'. The shopping area was very pleasant and there were no empty shops or vast numbers of Charity shops. There was a 60's area that had been revamped and other bit tagged on. Out of the actually shopping Malls are wide open spaces which make the place feel very spacious. The other thing that you notice is that the area is littered with lovely old buildings. The bombed Cathedral and new one are in a quiet area and there are other lovely building around. We didn't go to the New Cathedral as it was £8 to get in! We are not being that extravagant on our budget, and decided saving that much would allow us at least a pint in Weatherspoon's and still save!!
Lady Godiva statue in Broadgate.
On the extreme left is the bombed Cathedral in the middle is St. Mary's Guildhall that has been visited by Henry VIII, Elizebeth I and Shakespeare, who had plays performed there. His arrest warrant for stealing from an orchard and was what caused him to run away to London. Mary Queen of Scots was detained here for a couple of months too.
Brindley means that I keep thinking that somebody is watching all the time.
It is 48 hours parking here so we will stay here tomorrow too. There are a few museums etc to have a look at and maybe a bit of window shopping. All in all I have been quite impressed by Coventry and would say that it is well worth a visit if you are this way.
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