A visit to a city’s history

What a way to send a weekend! I spent time with someone who means an awful lot to me, and I was able to see and do things with someone who enjoys the same sort of things as I do – i.e. we’re both petrol heads!

It started on Saturday, meeting at our normal meeting point of Warwick services (ok – the services are closer to Gaydon, but that’s just local knowledge speaking!)

We had a coffee and our normal chat about the route, then headed into Coventry to the park and ride at the Memorial park, as parking in Coventry is horrendously expensive.

As the main point of interest didn’t open until 10am, I suggested that we visited the two cathedrals. No – I didn’t mistype that – Coventry has two cathedrals - the old cathedral (the one that the Germans bombed in 1940) and the new one, which was built next to the old cathedral in the 1960s.

The old cathedral still has remnants of the stained glass that decorated the windows, and is most noted for the so-called Cross of Nails:

The Cross of Nails – on the night of 14 November 1940, the city of Coventry was devastated during an air raid and its cathedral burned. Shortly afterwards three nails from the bombed roof timbers were taken and formed into the shape of a cross…

In places, the damage from the bombs can still be seen on the outer walls of the old cathedral, and I will admit, I’d never really taken much notice until my friend remarked on it.

The new cathedral however, is very different. The outside has a huge bronze sculpture of St Michael and the Devil, by Sir Jacob Epstein, and is quite an impressive sight.

But, I guess the thing that the cathedral is most famous for (apart from standing next to the bombed ruin of the old cathedral) is the huge tapestry – Christ in Glory. I seem to recall being told that this is one of the largest tapestries in the world…

Then, it was off to the main reason for my friend coming into the city – the Museum of Road Transport. The museum is a real mix of old, new and incredibly fast (it holds both the land speed record cars – Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC) and holds some incredibly rare and unusual cars.

There was one car that I was really keen on seeing – Thrust SSC. When it was brought back from America (after breaking the land speed record and the sound barrier) I wasn’t able to go to the parade that was held to celebrate its success, so seeing it in its new home in the museum was a real treat for me.

After seeing that, the rest of the museum seemed to be a little bit of a come-down, but the exhibits were quite interesting. They had a small section of motorcycles, which was quite interesting for me, as they had one of the original speedway bikes!

Sunday was a lazier day, as the pair of us headed to the National Motorcycle Museum at Bickenhill. This was the museum that my friend had been teasing me about acting as the guide for him, as he is passionate about his own bike.

However, that didn’t stop him falling for a 1930’s motorcycle. He said that it had nearly every feature that he takes for granted on his own bike.

My own personal favourite was (and still is) the 1969 Triumph Bonneville. Ok – I know all the arguments about it being unreliable, etc but it is still one of those bikes that I have a real soft spot for.

Guess I should call this quits – I’m supposed to be working, not blogging!

Back when I get the chance.

Karen

Learning to fly, but I don’t have wings