Rambling, farther afield from Coventry

Many of our site members live miles away from Coventry, overseas in some cases, & talk about their future return visiting plans. With that in mind, as well as local members who would love to trip out but need a bit of encouragement, I thought that I would wet their appetite by describing some of my trips out & about that I enjoy. With the shorter daylight hours ever increasingly encroaching upon us, along with the drop in temperatures too, this is a good opportunity for me to exploit the use of my bus pass, for however long we may still be able to keep them. I had thought of doing this before, but I did not want to extol the virtues of places outside of Coventry on this site, until my friend on one of my trips today made the point that by describing trips out, makes it usable for anyone else to come into Coventry.

Often, when I set out in a morning I have no plan of where I am going. That is so nice, particularly as for so many, that is almost an unsurmountable pleasure. I am retired, but realise that many members on here are fully working families, who are outside the scope of bus pass privilege, but let me add that before I retired, I often made use of the Family Day Ranger type tickets to take my grandchildren out, even with my car sat on my drive. I don't mean to teach grandmother to suck eggs, but before I describe todays 'Philitour' let me suggest some public transport tips. Make sure that the timetable is current & it is the right day of the week that you are looking at. When you are getting off a bus in a strange place, please ask the driver where the stop to go back is. So many of our locations have one-way systems. Then, go & look at the timetable on the pole of the return bus stop. You will at least know how to get home. Enough of me being inspector 'Blakey'. I want you to see that Coventry has one of the most diverse directions of bus travel of anywhere. Please look at a map of Coventry, put your finger at any point at the circumference & you can get within a mile of it by bus. That cannot be said of every town or city. Good old Coventry!

Today, Thursday, I boarded the No13 in Beake Avenue, which delivered me to Wetherspoons (Timothy Whites) in time for coffee and with the cathedral bells still ringing in my ears from Sunday, I sat for sometime in the cathedral ruins. Walking past Holy Trinity, the first bus stop is the No86 to Rugby. Alternate buses only go as far as Binley Woods on this route. Next thing, we are charging along Sky Blue Way, Binley Rd, passing where one of our members would have been hard at work. Passing the old Craven Arms pub, we continue across the Eastern Bypass, entering the village of Binley Woods where I have my eyes peeled looking out for another forum member. Brandon, then Wolston are entered travelling under a fabulous railway viaduct. The Royal Oak pub is being renovated, I noticed on the right. The village of Wolston is a very pretty village with seating and good fish & chips on a warm sunny day. Not today though as my destination is Rugby, which I will continue my story of on my next post

From Wolston, the 86 joins the Fosse for a short distance, before re-joining the A428 to Rugby. Our bus driver today (a lady) was really motoring as the bus negotiated the Coventry to Euston low railway bridge, the reason for single deckers only on this route. I am sure she was determined to keep up with a Euston bound express, but that had vanished in twenty seconds. The route now goes off the A428 to serve the 'Lawfords' but returns ready for the last lap into Rugby. We enter Rugby through a new redevelopment area that if you have not been for a few years, you will hardly recognise. The 86, continues into the centre of Rugby on its one way round route, so where you get off, is where you get back on to return to Coventry. Rugby has special memories for me so after a walk through the shopping arcades & a rest in the central church yard, I waited for the No96, to continue my journey, on to West Haddon, where I enjoyed lunch. That will be another story. So you see, in just a couple of hours of easy travelling, I was in Northamptonshire.

When I first started my adventurous local bus trips, I kept them very simple & straight forward. After all it's supposed to be relaxation, not a rat race. It's as I have become accustomed to full bus travel that I am now confident to travel wherever, & also to return via a different route. I would not have dreamed of doing that before I had gained the experience needed. The manager at my last retirement job described me as having several degrees in 'bus-techtonics'. Clients travel queries were usually referred to me. I am saying this, not to boast, but just out of fear that if we take on too much, too early, we might be booking into a hotel for the night.

This is West Haddon parish church where twenty years ago I was delighted to have been invited to play the organ for an RAF wedding service. It was a particular thrill for me as I was accompanied by a full RAF silver band, who also provided the fanfare as the bride & groom went out of the church. I have included the pic so that you can see the correct time on Thursday, shown on the clock tower. My bus pass does not start until 9.30am, I had enjoyed coffee and a sit in the cathedral ruins, as well as a relaxed hour in Rugby, and here I am in Northamptonshire. All by bus from Coventry. The fact that I then returned home via Dunchurch & Southam, just in time for afternoon tea in Leamington, followed by a high speed turbo drive along the Warwick bypass aboard the new X18 service, is just by the way. I arrived home in Holbrooks at 4.30pm. Surely, that deserves a big ding ding for public transport provided in Coventry.

Philip, you have a certain skill when it comes to stirring up my memories, about Sewall Highway, and now about the area between Coventry and Rugby. I lived in Stretton-on-dunsmore fro 7 - 20 years of age, and the bus, a Midland Red, which used to take me to schoool, was the 589, via Dunchurch and Thurlaston. The 586 used to go via Wolston and the Lawfords, and I sometimes caught it from Rugby to Wolston, then walk, if I had a detention. Thornby, the name of the pub escapes me, near West Haddon used to be a favourite stamping ground when I was in my late teens. When I am mobile again, I must dredge out my bus pass and take a trip to that area for a tour round.

Thank you for the compliment, Rojwhittle. I do indeed hope that my stories will bring happy memories. Coventry does not exist in isolation. My parents were blitzed out of their home in Radford April 1941 and lived in the Birmingham area until 1947. They were taken in by a total stranger in Hampton in Arden where they lived for nearly six months. The stranger became a life long friend. In the mean time, I will put a blurred pic of the 'Turbo X18' close to the speed of sound* bombing along the Warwick Bypass. ps. *That may need verification.

You're more than welcome Philip. I was thinking this morning that I used to see destinations on the front of Midland Red buses, that stick in my mind, and which I still have never visited to this day. Filongley was one, Haseley, was another. Maybe I should get my map out and visit them before it's too late! The last time I went on a bus in Warwickshire , it was probably a BMMO Midland Red, just about making 45 mph with its governor chuffing and everything shaking madly. The X18 looks like an improvement.

We are currently going through a retrograde period as far as 'out in the sticks' bus services are concerned, Rojwhittle. Any service that is poorly used is now suspect for cutting. The one thing that is keeping some of our services going that would otherwise be suspect is the large number of students now living in our city, as well as bus-pass users. Most weeks I try to travel on one of the out-in-the-sticks routes just for the ride before they are axed. I would not recommend them to a novice though, unless I was with them, as the connections might be very thin.

Well Philip, if you fancy a day out when I am able to walk again.....

I love my days out, Rojwhittle. Without me being too morbid, I saw stats recently that stated that UK males of my age on average live for 26,000 days. I have already had 23,484 of them. In reality I do not take too much notice of those kind of stats' as so many factors can vary life expectancy by as much as a quarter. Never-the-less, On a serious side of this, the fact that I use public transport means that I have to walk to get a bus, quite apart form walking between venues. A report in the Daily Mail last week showed that people using the bus to travel to work on average, cover three hundred more walking miles than commuters just using their cars, in a year. I need my exercise, as members that have met me on here will confirm. Best wishes to you.

I have enjoyed watching a Saturday evening television, detailed documentary about the history of the South Leicestershire village of Kibworth. Whilst Kibworth is not Coventry, it is so close that many events that drasticaly affected Kibworth may also had been devastating in Coventry. The accountant who was my boss during my early days at Courtaulds, was George Harcourt. I now know that his ancestors came from Kibworth. Infact, part of the village is called Kibworth-Harcourt. That prompted me to see for myself the lie of the land. What better way than by bus. Coventry provides a direct service to Leicester in the shape of the X6, from the Pool meadow which travels along the M69 to St. Margaret's bus station in Leicester. Any one that fancies a Fosse Park pre Christmas, shopping trip might find this service useful. On Saturday, I travelled to Leicester itself and enjoyed a return journey aboard the 140 service to Rugby. I am telling you this now so that you can see that I do not attempt to bite too much in one go in a strange area. I now am armed with sufficient info so as to visit this area, which I will pace out over the next couple of weeks. Unless I find good contact info' between Kibworth & Coventry, I will be reluctant to post a detailed inventory. When I find a new out in the sticks bus route, it will take many trips in order to see all that I want to see. If there are only say, four buses a day, then I cannot visit every village in that one day.

I have just watched Michael Wood in his BBC4 history documentary, make a significant link between Kibworth & Coventry which is what I had hoped for in my previous post. This is because of my time spent looking at the history of John Wycliff whose monument is in Lutterworth. Michael spent time inside both St. Marys & the Guild Hall, looking at records as well as embracing the nature of the buildings. Please form an orderly queue for my bus pass conducted tours.

My Pam aboard the 11.05 from B'ham Int to Telford on Wednesday 16th November. Living in the north of Coventry, our fastest journeys northwards by train from Coventry, we use the 701 bus from Holbrooks to Kingsbury Rd, then the 900 bus to B'ham Int. A short cut Arriving early we had the pick of the seats. The train was well patronised upon leaving.