Thursday 1 October 2009

Hawkesbury to Coventry. 1 Stop Lock.

Another day where our formula of starting early and arriving before the stone throwers and other miscreants either get out of bed or have had too much of what it takes to get them going, worked.




Off we went under the watchful stillness of this monster, this is the biggest pylon I have ever seen.



Hawkesbury Junction was soon reached, where, after another top up of water, we went through the Stop lock. This is a lock that was designed to stop one canal company from getting free water from another, the rise and fall is only about six inches. Obviously it still has a purpose even in this day and age.









A quick avoidance of a boat making a complete U turn from the Coventry canal before we entered it ourselves.





Absolutely no idea what this is, but it is certainly colourful!






A converted industrial building as we get nearer to Coventry, those front doors seem very close to each other.






This sign is just before you enter the basin at Coventry, eighty three miles back to Oxford? fifty five and a half miles to Banbury? how can we have come that far in two weeks?





We arrived in the basin, which is a lot smaller than you would think for, and moored up for the day. We were going to have a quick wander around the city but decided against it as the benches near the boat contained a few people who seemed determined to drink the local off licence dry.

This seemed strange, as most towns and cities now have a zero tolerance policy to drinking in public places. They were in full view of the CCTV cameras and the Neighbourhood Wardens were on patrol, perhaps Coventry does not have this policy as yet.





I went fishing instead, after catching half a dozen small Perch D says....... Can I have a go?

This is not funny, this is so unfunny, there is nothing to laugh at here.





The old and the new!

This new crane, squeezed in alongside the old dockyard one, is controlled completely by the man in the basket that is stretched across the canal, it reverses, beeps, turns, flashes and makes very loud diesel noises, all very clever but not at half past seven in the morning.

Heading for the Ashby canal now.

Until next time............

2 comments:

Nicholas said...

I seem to remember Coventry was the first town in the country to ban drinking in public places and that was in the late eighties I think .... doesn't sound as if the ban is working too well!
Happy Cruising.
Nick

Chris and Debbie, said...

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your comment.

If thats the case then they do seem to have let the ban slip a bit nowadays.

The people were no problem though, as it turned out, in fact they were very friendly, but you dont know what to expect when you have just arrived in a new place and haven't met the new neighbours properly.


Regards Chris & Debbie.