Bedworth (canalside street art)


Classic telegraph pole with insulated pots


I needed the car on Monday so dropped Karen at Nuneaton station at six in the morning.  The first task of the day was do a big supermarket shop (one of the reasons for needing the car).  I also wanted to get rid of recycling as the rubbish points on the Coventry canal take general rubbish only.  Unlike the Trent & Mersey, where we have been for the last few weeks, who are trialling taking dry recyclables at their rubbish points.  It transpired that Nuneaton council have stopped public recycling as a cost saving measure – it all has to be done through householder bins so I had a car full of recycling.

Having got the shopping I then endeavoured to find a canal bridge at Bedworth suitable for mooring the boat and parking the car.  It took forever; each place was either suitable for parking or mooring but not both.  Poor old Buddy didn’t know what was happening - out of the car – onto the towpath – back to the car again.
In the end we found a spot on Gipsy Lane so we left the car on the grass verge and walked the six miles back to Apple Pie Lane Bridge where we were moored in Hartshill.  Apple Pie Lane Bridge is one of our favourite bridge names.

Walking back through Bedworth and Nuneaton wasn’t particularly pleasant as the locals don’t seem keen on clearing up after their dogs – the wort place we have seen this problem.  Anyway there was some pleasant countryside at either end of the walk and we passed one of the old style telegraph poles with ceramic insulators.  The telegraph wires used to be bare and hence needed insulating at points of attachment.  Industrial historians often refer to these old poles as street art as they were individually designed rather than mass produced depending on the number of wires they were carrying etc.  If you’re really interested have a look at: the Quadhurst site.
 
I found four more milestones (two were missing in this section).  I have included the photograph for my daughter in law Amanda as she is particularly interested in these artefacts.

13/14, 14/13, 15/12 & 18/9 - getting ever closer to Coventry
I also saw two more Small Tortoiseshells on our way back.  Time was tight as we now had to move the boat to Bedworth in time to leave at five to get Karen from work.  We were going to Stratford upon Avon for the evening.  We have managed to find a bridge club where we can continue the lessons we were having at Tunbridge Wells – so our Mondays are going to be busy from now on.

On the way to Bedworth we went through the area north of Nuneaton that has been mined for ores for centuries.  There are many of these spoil heaps dotting the side of the canal making the landscape interesting.  The local history society has put together a good site on the quarrying history of the area here: Nuneaton local history site.

Mount Judd - a spoil heap from Judkins Quarry
We moored up in time to grab a quick bite to eat and then set off to pick Karen up from work and then onto Stratford.

Our mooring for Monday night by Gipsy Lane, Bedworth
As we arrived in Stratford with some time to spare I got rid of the recycling.  Stratford is one of those towns that have recycling bins next to each litter bin so I visited five of them to distribute things evenly rather than filling up one bin.  The other good thing about Stratford is that parking in the centre is free between six in the evening and eight in the morning.  This means that when we moor up in the basin, opposite the RSC theatre in the centre, then Karen can park in the High Street practically next to the boat.

Our new bridge club - very friendly and welcoming people



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