A (Muddy) Coventry Way
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| The Start |
Up at 4:30 in the very a.m. and out of the house by 5, en route to Meriden for the start of A Coventry Way. I checked in and was sent on my way at 05:28 – it’s been a long time since I’ve walked out of a pub at that time in the morning !
It was dark (obviously) and lightly drizzling as I headed up the first hill towards Berkswell.
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| In Night Mode |
The sun was up by the time I reached the Kenilworth Greenway so it was off with the head-torch and on with the walk. The flat, ex-railway track, allowed a speedy stroll until reaching checkpoint 1 in Kenilworth.
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| On the Right Track |
A golf course was traversed before crossing over the A46 and hitting the fields, most of which were dry and grassy but some definitely were not.
Checkpoint 2 was passed in Bubbenhall and at 18 miles, checkpoint 3. A brief walk along the scenic high street in Wolston was terminated with a left turn pausing for a photo at the old priory on the outskirts of Wolston. Some decent footpaths lead to Bretford from where a hideous squelchy bridleway wound it’s muddy way uphill for a mile or so before reaching terra-firma near Brinklow.
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| Wolston |
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| The Priory, Wolston |
Someone with an evil streak must have chosen the path of A Coventry Way into Brinklow as instead of heading straight up the high street goes out of town, up a hill, down the same hill and then along the high street to checkpoint 4 at 22.6 miles. At least we’re on the home leg !
A decent few miles across the fields eventually put us on the Coventry Canal, which was followed through increasingly gloopy mud. After a mile and a half, the canal was left behind (for now) for one solid field before encountering the most evil field imaginable.
Or maybe it can be imagined. Think of a grassless field. Add a load of cows. The cows then add their contribution and the whole lot is mixed by a hundred hoofs. The concoction is allowed to crust over – slightly. It was 500 metres of hell !!!
The Canal was crossed and a fleeting visit made of Ansty. The, muddy, Coventry Canal was followed for a few hundred metres before heading cross-country and over the M69. A couple more miles of fields and we were in Bedworth, or as the locals call it, Beduff (2 Fs).
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| The Water Tower, Bedworth |
After checkpoint 5, at 30 miles, there was a couple of miles of tarmac before heading up through a few soggy bits to Corley, passing checkpoint 6 on the way. In fact the section just before Windmill Lane is best described as swamp.
The final checkpoint was reached on the way out of Corley Moor with only 3 miles to go.
A few muddy bits were thrown in just to keep the theme going before an easy, downhill, road section back to The Queen’s Head in Meriden.
I finished at 15:53 – ten hours and twenty five minutes after starting.
I did the same walk in 2014 and the time then was 10:37 so, at least, I’d beaten my time by 12 minutes – a PB – Woohoo !!!
At only 40 miles, this seemed a lot harder than the Round Rotherham 50. The GPS track says that I ascended over 300 metres but I think what did it was the mud – Did I mention the mud?
