Day out in Coventry

Coventry Market

Medieval Spon Street

We are staying here in Coventry today so had breakfast then set off to the centre.  It was raining, but not too hard and hopefully it will brighten up later.  We walked up into the shops and went to Coventry indoor market.  It is a big market with lots of stalls selling material, hardware, shoes, etc., as well as some fruit and veg stalls and a few butchers, a really good place.  We had a wander around and then had a walk to Medieval Spon Street, an historic street in Coventry.  The street was once part of a route that ran from Gosford, in Oxfordshire, to Birmingham, a route which remained intact until the 1960s.  With the construction of Coventry’s inner ring road, Spon Street was cut in half and the route severed.  Several of the historic buildings in the street were relocated from other parts of Coventry and there is now around two dozen shops, restaurants and public houses, operating either from original or relocated medieval buildings.  It was then time for lunch, so we went to KFC and tasty it was too. 

Coventry Transport Museum

Inside the Museum

After lunch, we went to the Transport Museum.  It tells the story behind the development of road transport from the earliest cycles to the fastest cars on earth and how Coventry became the birthplace of the British cycle and motor industries and the best thing is,  it's free.  It is a really good place to visit and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours looking around.  It is reputedly the largest display of British-made transport in the world, with over 200 cars, 90 motorbikes and 230 cycles on view.  If you ever visit Coventry, it is well worth a visit.

Lady Godiva Statue

We then went to find the statue of Lady Godiva, who in legend rode naked through the streets of Coventry to divert her husband’s anger from the town. 

After all that walking around, it was time to head back to the boat.  Coventry is a lovely city and there is lots to see and we have decided that it gets the prize for having the most shops, there are many of them and a lot of the shopping centres are joined together, so it seems as they go on for ever.  We enjoyed our day though, and would definitely come back again.