TILE HILL: A familar setting to get me started. The 8:53 London Midland train from New Street to London Euston drops me off conveniently in Tile Hill where I busy myself with photos of the station, noting a new housing development springing up alongside the Birmingham platform. The Torrington Avenue bus terminus is also a favourite haunt of mine and today we have the 19 on parade, the route set to be replaced by the 18 from Sunday.
- 32 at Tanyard Farm -32: It's then a short walk from Tile Hill to Tanyard Farm where the turning circle on Goodman Way awaits me. The 32 terminates here at the moment but the 6 and 6A are set to take over duties in this corner of Coventry, hence the existing connections to Potters Green and Bell Green will be replaced by links to Little Heath and Victoria Farm. Today's 32 eventually makes an appearance, and having pounced for a quick photo I hop aboard for the ride along Tile Hill Lane (spotting the Newlands), through Spon End and Coventry City Centre to reach Walsgrave.
WALSGRAVE: I'd passed through the area last time around and it definitely intrigued me so why not take a closer look? The Mount Pleasant is a useful target up by the Asda and I also have a go at some zooms of the Red Lion. The star attraction however has to be St Mary's Church where the churchyard looks so pretty with a carpet of snowdrops and crocuses. Woodway Lane adds to the fun with the prospect of a photo or two of the Craven, a pub I hadn't spotted previously.
- St Mary's, Walgrave -POTTERS GREEN: Sticking with Woodway Lane, I continue through to Potters Green passing the pebble-grey chapel of the United Reformed Church. I can then renew my acquaintance with the 32's north-eastern terminus by the shops off Ringwood Highway - thankfully I can do the location justice today without running the gauntlet of moody teenagers lurking by the chip shop! With a quick nod to St Philip's Church, I rejoin Woodway Lane and note how the road has been truncated by the M6 motorway. The Jolly Colliers pub probably felt quite rural in years gone by but now it just looks sad, all boarded up and neglected.
OXFORD CANAL: An ominous green footbridge connects the two severed ends of Woodway Lane either side of the motorway, so I shuffle my way across to join the towpath of the Oxford Canal. Bridge 9 is a lovely little structure and suggests I could be in for a real treat as long as I block out the drone of the M6 traffic. I follow the canal towards Hawkesbury, passing over the junction with the Wyken Arm and admiring the views from Bridge 5 out towards Lentons Lane.
- Bridge 5 -VICTORIA FARM: I leave the canal at Bridge 4 (Tusses Bridge) where I am saddened to note the closure of the Elephant & Castle pub - Rog and I had a quick pint here back in 2009. Alderman's Green offers views of the local post office and a scout hut, then I track down my next bus location at the Victoria Farm turning circle off Anderton Road; the 30A and 30C call here at the moment but from Sunday this will be where the 6A finishes up. A bit of patience is required waiting for a photo opportunity but a couple of 30As eventually oblige either side of a quick shot of the pub sign for the Greyhound.
LONGFORD: Ploughing onwards, Grange Road leads me down into Longford Park where I cross a brook and head over to Windmill Road. The Old Crown is an excellent find, the pub dating from 1914 and having some nice architectural detailing. Something called the Fortress then catches my eye as I join the main Longford Road, but I soon branch off along the Coventry Canal to cover the short distance down to the Royal Hotel and Old Church Road.
- 30A at Victoria Farm -36: Just as with the 32 and Potters Green earlier, I felt that the 36 and Little Heath were in need of a repeat prescription to ensure that my photographic diagnosis was spot on. Luckily the bus doesn't keep me waiting long and the patient can be administered with the appropriate camera treatment. The route then provides some medicine of its own, allowing me to rest my aching feet as I journey back into Coventry via Stoke Heath and Hillfields.
1: Once back at Pool Meadow, my plan would have been to catch the 11 down to Stonehouse Lane but a combination of a misleading timetable screen and a random detour into a car park meant that the idea fell by the wayside. Instead I link up with the 1, filling in the Toll Bar End section of the route having covered the Chapelfields bit last time around. The bus picks up at The Quadrant (outside the Litten Tree) and then trundles straight down the London Road, passing the Royal Oak at Whitley and the Chace Hotel at Willenhall before terminating just short of the A46 Bypass junction. Under the review, the 3A will be the link to Toll Bar End in future whilst the 7 (extended from Brownshill Green) will provide some peak coverage along London Road.
- Route 1 at Toll Bar End -11: the new 3A route will also be stepping in to cover the 11 service, although I remember when the 11 itself was mooted as a replacement for what was the A1 a few years ago. Anyway, it's definitely the 11 that turns up today, collecting me from Stonehouse Lane and embarking on loops of Willenhall (Yarningale Road) and Cheylesmore (Dillotford Avenue) before dropping me off on the forecourt of Coventry Station just right for catching my 16:27 train home.
With that, the lid to the selection box is closed and it will be a new variety of treats that will await me the next time I catch a bus in Coventry. It has certainly been interesting trying out the routes as they stood, covering familiar places (Tile Hill, Chapelfields, Bell Green) and new discoveries (Finham, Allesley Park, Victoria Farm), adding to my local knowledge all the while. As ever with these Network Reviews, there will be winners and losers so it remains to be seen just how the revised services will ultimately be received, but I am already looking forward to the trip when I get my first chance to explore the new system...
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