Hawkesbury Visitor Moorings - Coventry Canal

The Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury is where you'll find the moorings - a proper working waterway rather than some manicured tourist spot. You can pull up here and tie off for a bit, watching narrowboats come and go, or simply sit on the towpath with a flask and watch the water move. The stretch around Hinckley has real character, the sort of place where you see actual canal life rather than just postcards of it.

It's ideal if you're staying at 5 Ways Lakes nearby and fancy a break from the campsite routine. The towpath walk is gentle and flat - good for families with younger kids who need a leg-stretch, though there's not much in the way of attractions immediately around here. History buffs will appreciate that this canal still carries freight and leisure traffic much as it did in the 1800s, connecting Birmingham to Coventry. The moorings themselves are functional rather than fancy, which is exactly the point.

Allow an hour for a proper poke around, maybe longer if you're into canal boats and want to chat with the skippers. Go early on a weekend if you want to avoid the narrowboat traffic. It's free, obviously - you're on public towpath - though if you want to moor overnight you'll need to sort that separately. Not a destination in itself, but a genuine bit of working Britain that fits neatly into a broader East Midlands trip.