Birmingham to Coventry

I fancied a walk this weekend but having driven quite a bit in the past couple of weekends I thought it may be nice to catch the bus and explore some of my local environment.  How about trying to walk from Birmingham Cathedral to Coventry Cathedral I thought.  There's no official route but a quick look at the map made me realise there could be a decent route along the Grand Union Canal out of Birmingham and then across the fields and parks into Coventry.  Here's some photos from the day.

Birmingham Cathedral - my starting point.

New and Old - Moor St Station and Selfridges

Old Victorian Public Toilets on corner of Great Barr Street

My entry point onto the Grand Union Canal

The urban canal system in  the Birmingham suburbs

A Birmingham church

Some nice attempts to add signage to the canal

Te boundary between urban and rural canal

Signage - close to home and far away



Tysley Incinerator




Heron in flight

Heron at rest

Time for elevenses in Orton

Canal looking nice now in the midday milky sunshine

Naughty farmer ploughing over the footpath

Under the flightpath for Birmingham Airport



Over the M40

Time for tea and cake in Hampden in Arden - nice cafe, warm welcome to walkers



An old mill stone in Hampden in Arden



The only road stretch I encountered, leaving Hampden towards Meriden

The girls of Meriden

Afternoon coffee break



Meriden church

Farmers have been busy recently evidently

Two passing walkers pointed to this bird across the field saying it was a Red Kite, an unusual visitor to Warwickshire.

Some frisky friends



Pickford Green

Now that's what I call an old house

Coventry coming into sight

An arty tree

Allesley Park



Wild flower bed in Allesley Park

Lake View Park - my local park

Spon End

Spon Street, Coventry

Lady Godiva, Coventry

Coventry Council House



Coventry Cathedral


 

A celebratory local pint of beer

The twenty mile walk took me eight hours in total with four stops, three in cafes and one at my own house in Coventry before the final push into the centre of Coventry.  The weather forecast was for showers but luckily none fell and I had a dry day with pleasant walking temperature.