Tuesday 16 August 2011

High speed train etc..

Photograph Quiz:
Photo no 42:- How many trudgers did I meet when I did my early morning trudge down this roiadway while camping in Eire? How far did I trudge? How long did the trudge take??
Dear Blog,
 Back to the Warwickshire countryside, quite a contrast after being on the hills and rocky moorland of Eire. Yesterday, I ran over the course of the proposed new cycle way between Coventry and Kenilworth (two more miles for the training log, Blog). I may have mentioned to you before that the cycleway follows exactly the route of the Nuneaton to Leamington rapid transit scheme outlined six or seven years ago. I did suspect that the cycleway was a soft sell to establish a route and thereby overcome any future opposition to the transit scheme before it began; after all the transit route was accepted de facto as part of the last proposed structure plan for Warwick University. The kerbing for the park and ride on the University Campus relief road were incorporated when the road was built six years back. Events seem to have overtaken that little planning job because the proposed student accommodation in the area ran into buffers from objections from residents resulting in the student blocks which are nearing completion being built on the tennis courts, the sports area of tennis courts being shifted to the site originally proposed for the accommodation on the back fields. Anyway, my idea of a soft sell was reinforced in my mind by questioning why we needed another cycle way between the University of Warwick and Kenilworth when a perfectly adequate one is already in existence about 400 metres to the south of the new  route and has been for a decade. A member of the team responsible for the cycle way has reassured me that I am sky blue thinking, as they say in the trade. No such future transport expansion is planned. We shall see what we shall see. Please note the date Blog. Any ways, I trudged along the route then turned on to the Greenway, the old railway track which is now being touted as the preferred route for the high speed rail route between London and Birmingham. No kidding, THE route. Honestly.  Let’s invest billions of quids to save Johnnie Commuter 25 minutes on his journey time so he can take his leisure in having a coffee in the station buffet bar before he rushes down to London. GREAT. Just what we need. Twenty five minutes British Saving Time (BST). Of course in winter we will have to put the clocks back to the old time table because we might get a shower of the right kind of snow to grind the system to a halt .... then in spring we can put the clocks forward again. Sensible or what?? (four more miles for the training log, Blog). After the Greenway, I swung round onto the roads, heading towards home, passing the site of the former Massey Ferguson tractor factory. Remember when the factory was closed, Blog? We were told the site would be given over solely to the manufacturing sector, no houses, but the new units creating X thousands of jobs. As I trudged passed the site I could see all the houses and a few factory units. (six more miles for the training log, Blog). From there, I crossed the main Birmingham/Coventry link road, (the A45), down passed the former Jaguar car assembly plant factory and home. Remember when the Jaguar factory was closed, Blog? We were told the site would be given over solely to the manufacturing sector, no houses, but the new units creating X thousands of jobs. As I trudged passed the site I could see all the houses and a few factory units. You’ve gotta laugh, haven’t you. Any ways, that’s a few more trudgy miles in the log, Blog. Today I think I’ll check out how the council is getting on with it’s revamp of the Coventry War Memorial Park. A bit of a grasstrudge to protect the legs after all the Irish roiadmiles.
                                      Colin

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