For more details of the moorings we have used see our moorings page HERE
Monday was, or should have been, a short easy day just five easy lock free miles to where we had arranged to meet pal Mark, who was coming to stay with us for a week or two, just outside Willoughby but as we passed Midland Chandlers we noticed that, despite being a bank holiday, it was open. We backed onto their mooring and were about to go in when we noticed someone pacing out the space in front of us, I asked why and was told he was pacing to see if he could get his boat in front of us while he went into the chandler, it was obvious he could not so I suggested he breast up (moor) alongside us which he did. What we didn’t know when we made the offer that after finishing shopping he, and his wife wanted to chat, and chat, and chat, and chat, and chat . . . . . .
We didn’t move Tuesday. By the time Mark arrived and we all got sorted it was quite late we decided to get underway Wednesday when we got up early(ish) and continued north on the Oxford Canal towards the Hillmorton Locks reportedly the busiest on the system. The flight is three locks that drop a total of 18’ - 7” and was completed in 1774 although the final section of the canal into Oxford itself was not opened until 1st January 1790. The Oxford Canal became between then and 1805 the most profitable and important transport link in the country. A second set of locks was built alongside the original Hillmorton Lock Flight in 1840 that greatly increased capacity, a bonus today that pleasure boaters have twice as many chances of finding a lock in their favour. We managed to find three locks all in our favour and as a bonus there were “voli lockies” (voluntary lock-keepers) who did all the work on the last lock for us and then just yards beyond the bottom lock we found a good mooring for the night, allowing Mark to cycle back to last nights mooring to fetch his car which he then left at Hillmorton.
Thursday saw us reaching All Oaks Wood just outside the village of Brinklow where Mark cycled back to Hillmorton to fetch his car. We had chosen All Oaks Wood as we knew there was a car park there with plenty of dog walkers around to (hopefully) keep the car safe. On Friday we travelled from All Oaks Wood to around a mile before Hawkesbury Junction where we had a quiet mooring with not another boat in sight. Fabulous. Again, poor Mark cycled back to All Oaks Wood to fetch the car. Sadly because he has a very small car and can only fit one bike in the back he must do these cycle rides alone.
Saturday we started on the 5.1/2 mile run from Hawkesbury Junction to Coventry Basin in the heart of the city. We were a little nervous as we had heard all sorts of horror stories about that section of the Coventry Canal, the canal is filthy with rubbish, you can’t go far without getting someones' cast off tat wrapped around the propellor, people throw stuff on you as you pass under bridges, there are hundreds of abandoned shopping trolleys in the canal, the list goes on but as we chugged our way towards the city we were surprised at how clean the canal was. OK there was an amount of rubbish floating about and we did see a couple of abandoned shopping trolleys hiding in the depths of the canal (the water was clear enough to see them) and overall it was most definitely a more urban than rural environment but still very pleasant. We entered the basin and were looking for a mooring when we were informed that while Coventry held 2021 City of Culture status all moorings had to be pre-booked with the CRT (Canal and River Trust). Getting on t’interweb I managed to get the very last berth, which despite the pre-booking requirement was still free.
We took a turn around the small canal basin and were delighted to find, almost opposite our mooring, a Portuguese supermarket. It was as if Christmas had arrived early, we were able to buy wine, salt cod, pastel de nata (crispy pastry custard tarts), all sorts of tasty treats we thought we would never taste again. Having gone in for just a look around we still managed to spend best part of £100, but was it worth it? Yes!! - every single penny. We even went back Sunday Morning to get a few bits and bobs we had missed on Saturday and were rewarded with a gift of cakes iced with sweet icing in Portuguese flag colours of red, green and yellow. It seems it was the first anniversary of the shop opening.
We tried to extend our stay in the basin by 24 hours but all moorings for Sunday night were booked but we had till noon before we were required to vacate so we spent the time visiting both the old and new Coventry Cathedrals.
On the evening of 14 November 1940, over 500 bombers from the Luftwaffe (the German air force) targeted Coventry in the highly industrialised West Midlands. In the 12 hours of the raids, 568 people were killed and over 4,000 homes destroyed. Coventry Cathedral, dating from the 14th century, suffered a firestorm leaving it a virtual shell with only the tower and its spire still standing. In 1951 a competition was launched to find a design for a new cathedral: it was one of the most important architectural commissions of the post-war period. A plan submitted by architects Basil Spence & Partners was chosen from 219 entries. Preserving the ruined shell of the ancient cathedral as an integral part of the overall modern design was visionary, the whole was stunning with the most beautiful coloured glass panels everywhere you looked. The huge glass wall between the new cathedral and the ruins of the old was absolutely stunning but sadly I was unable to get into a position where a photo would do any justice to the actual article.
Shortly after our noon deadline we left the basin to continue our journey. On the canalside just outside the city is the row of cottages called Cash’s 100, built by silk weaver, quaker philanthropist brothers John and Joseph Cash who had planned to build 100 three story cottages, each with a garden and on the top floor of each cottage a well-lit work area, known collectively as 'Cash's Topshops', each housing a Jacquard loom, powered by a central, steam-powered beam engine. Only 48 were built and opened for business in 1857 and the individual workshops were combined into single, large, workspace in 1862. They were grade 11 listed in 1975. The video below shows the exterior of the building.
After a stop at Coventry’s Tesco Superstore to stock up with even more goodies we moored on the Coventry Canal a few hundred metres beyond Hawkesbury Junction.