It’s a Bank Holiday weekend coming up this Saturday to Monday, and I’m hoping to do a bit of towpath treading, weather and time permitting, on Saturday and/or on Monday. Only thing is, i have no idea where to go. So i thought I’d leave it to you good people.
Could you please suggest where i should stroll? Choose a canal starting point, a direction, and possibly even an end point to aim towards.
Just a few things: i have no car, so it has to be accessible by bus and/or train. I will be getting one of those day tripper tickets that give me unlimited travel in West Midlands, so that’s pretty much all of Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Solihull.
Also, i fancy doing a photographic scavenger hunt, so I’d love it if everyone can suggest random things to keep an eye out for and photograph and add to my live blogging. It doesn’t even have to be things you know will be there. Maybe something like two runners wearing yellow tops, a lock in use, swans taking off, a wooden sculpture. A UFO!
As for your suggestions, even if I don’t choose yours now, i plan on doing at least one or two a month while the weather is nice, so your suggestion might get chosen for a future stroll!
Maybe some time in the future, but i do like the idea of someone choosing a point on a canal, and i just wander on from there in the direction I’m told, and discovering things purely by chance.
Think of these strolls becoming really interactive!
Starting at Coventry Cathedral. If you could provide a few photos of the bombed out one (assuming that it’s still there as a memorial). Once at the canal, try and spot fish swimming in it.
That is a great idea! I might tweek it though, if you are alright with it?
How about this… I’ll start at Coventry Cathedral, and take a meandering route around the city centre taking photos of art that I see (and being the current City of Culture, there is a LOT) as well as other stuff that might be of interest, and finish off at the canal basin with a short walk along the canal fish spotting?
So Coventry is for one of the days… could someone please suggest a starting point by a canal (not in Coventry, but somewhere in the West Midlands) for the other day?
You don’t even have to know the area; it could be for no reason at all you picked that place, or it could be for spurious reasons like “it’s near a lock”, or “I like lines that run north to south” or even “that’s where the dart landed”!
First time posting!
I know this is a long shot, but if you happen to see any of Jean Parker’s sculptures in Coventry, could you grab a photo? She was my Auntie, and insanely talented.
Sounds like a plan! I walked past the junction to that canal the other week, so why not?
@darklys I know that statue, and assuming it hasn’t moved, it’s just outside the Cathedrals, so I’d have to go out of my way to miss it! Consider it as good as snapped.
When I lived in a place with more trails I used to do “coin hikes”
Just start walking and every time you reach a turn or a fork flip a coin to determine which way to go. Then after youve walked as far as you want see if you can figure out a way home. Helps with your sense of direction too.
The last couple of suggestions (Coventry Cathedral to Coventry Canal and Wednesbury Old Canal) resulted in a couple of funwalks.
I’m hoping the weather will be nice on the 14th May, as that is when I’m planning on doing my next walk. I say planning, as I would like to let you good people decide again.
So could you please suggest some point on a canal in the West Midlands area, and perhaps a general direction I can head towards?
Frustratingly, Henley In Arden is outside of the zone of the Day Tripper ticket. That’s not to say I won’t do it in the future. I have a week off in September, and I’m planning on hiring a car during that time, with a plan to explore some of the canals just outside of my usual reach, so this suggestion will have to wait until then.
Consider it put to the top of my September visit list!
I’ve done that walk before, and you’d be right, it is lovely! It is possibly a bit far for a live blogging walk, as it would take me far too long to do all the posts and photos to do it justice, particularly if part of it took me past the castle… I’d be there for days!
To put it in context, Saturday’s walk, the three posts that did the interior of the cathedral, the area outside the cathedral and the enfolding statue took about an hour in total. I didn’t mind, as i had plenty of time and no fixed route. I knew that if it got late i could just cut straight to the canal basin, as i was never that far away.
With a circular route, particularly a long one, I’ll have committed myself to doing the whole lot, so no time for stopping, appreciating, photographing and uploading. Plus, if i get tired, I’ll be miles away from where i can get back.
This is why i really just need a starting point and possibly a direction, and canals are ideal for that. I can go as far as i want and stop for as long or as briefly i want.
That’s not to say I’m completely dismissing your suggestion. As it happens, Kenilworth is easily accessible for me; the number 11 bus goes there regularly. So how about i start as close as i can to the castle, go past the castle, then wander towards the town centre, passing through Abbey Fields, blogging all the way?
All understandable! I was thinking that this route might be more of a hills and fields kind of thing, so there wouldn’t be as much to say about history and stuff like that, so that wouldn’t take as much time as the other walks Would love to see some countryside pictures and nature
Got a few days off next week, so canals will be featuring heavily.
Thinking possibly tomorrow doing through Wolverhampton, seeing all the locks, making my way north? Or maybe somewhere in Birmingham? I’m open to suggestions.
Tuesday will be a bit closer to home, maybe Nuneaton to Bedworth?
Wednesday I’m hoping it will be a nice day to start at the Edstone Aqueduct on the Stratford canal and then walk to Stratford on Avon, and the mooch around there until I’ve had enough.
No idea about thursday or friday yet, so if anyone has any ideas, please say so!
