The Sowe Valley is a continuous riverside park stretching for 8½
miles through the outskirts of Coventry, from Hawkesbury Junction
in the north to Stonebridge Meadows in the south. It is an area of
green belt, important for it's landscape, history and nature
conservation. A riverside footpath runs along the length of the
valley with information panels at key sites.
Further information can be found on the official Sowe
Valley Footpath website.
A series of 4 caches plus a bonus cache have been placed along
the section of this footpath which starts on Ansty Road and heads
north and west through Wyken Croft Nature Park. The landscape is
varied, with dense woodland to begin with, then a more open aspect
with hawthorn bushes and cow parsley in abundance. The final
stretch is closer to the river bank, through tamer areas of grass
and trees. There is one road to cross, which is not particularly
busy, but care should be taken.
The footpath is level and generally dry, but as some sections
are better maintained than others, there will be the occasional
puddle after rain, so please bear that in mind when choosing
footwear. You can park in the DIY store car park on Ansty Road -
from there you will have a round trip of about 2.7 miles to get all
four caches and the bonus.
You are looking for a small square 140ml clip-lock container,
large enough for a logbook and a few (very) small swaps.
Unfortunately we'd run out of baby pencils, so you will need your
own writing implement! Two of the caches have partial co-ordinates
for the bonus cache written on the back cover of the logbook.
Note: This walk can be combined with our earlier Sowe Valley
North Series (caches 1-4), however if you do this you will have a
couple of fairly busy roads to cross, so please do take care,
especially with any smaller cachers who may be with you. From Cache
4 you need to first cross the entrance road into Walsgrave Hospital
- since this was redeveloped, the route is not as clear as it once
was, but you will probably be able to see the next section of the
footpath directly opposite you. There is one sign provided, which
directs you to turn right towards the hospital, then there are no
further signs and you are left to your own devices. The intention,
we believe, is that you should cross one "arm" of the roundabout by
the pedestrian crossing, continue for quite some distance along the
side of the entrance road until you can cross that via another
pedestrian crossing, then turn left and walk back down the other
side of the road, crossing the opposite "arm" of the roundabout via
a third pedestrian crossing and continuing until you reach the
footpath again. Of course, you could ignore all of this, as we do,
and just carefully cross the road! The path then continues along
the right hand side of a car park and comes out by the large
roundabout on Ansty Road. At this point, you should turn right,
follow the path round the edge of the roundabout, then cross Ansty
Road where you should be able to see the next section of the Sowe
Valley Footpath on the other side. Do take extra care here though,
as this is a very busy road, with two lanes of traffic on each side
and no crossing.
