Month: April 2013

April 2nd – Something odd happened on the way home tonight. Spring came to me. 

I came back through Walsall – when I entered the railway system at Telford, it was dull and cold. When I emerged, blinking into the light on Platform 1 in Walsall, the sun was oddly warm on my back. It was still bitter, and the easterly that sapped my essence on the way home was worthy of any winter, but I could feel the warmth. Pulling my gloves on in the odd entrance tunnel to the orphan platform, I noted the sunlight shining in from outside. From the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, it could have been an evening in April.

At last. 

I was knackered, but spring is finally tapping on my window. Welcome back, old friend.

April 1st – These are impressive. I like alternative power, and I’m fascinated by it’s implementation. A couple of years ago I noticed the frames being erected for these solar panels, near the new railway bridge on the Fisherwick Road at Hademore, near Whittington. I think they may be designed to rotate, and comprise of 64 solar units apiece. I have no idea who operates them or why, but to me, they’re beautiful and fascinating. 

This, of course, used to be part of the ICI/Orica explosives depot, now Lyalvale Express, who manufacture shotgun cartridges. The empty sheds here were orphaned when the new road bisected the driveway. 

I’d love to know who these belong to and how much power they generate.

April 1st – Today is the second anniversary of starting this journal and project. It was 2 years ago that Renee Van Bar challenged me to do 30daysofbiking for a laugh. I just kept rolling ever since. Apart from the infamous two days laid low by a rogue pie over New Year 2012, I’ve cycled every day for those two years. Since 2012 was a leap year, that’s 729 days. That’s a lot of cycling, in all weathers and states of mind, I can tell you.

Today, a new 30daysofbiking starts. Naturally, I signed up…

Today, I took a ride out to Hints and Hopwas, returning via Lichfield and Burntwood. It was cold, and the easterly was still very sharp. But I ground on, and the originally very dark afternoon brightened. In the field near Rookery Wood, Hints, I noticed a first for me this spring: lambs. Not very old, but gorgeous and full of beans. They cheered me immensely.

March 31st – The contrasts continued as I got out on the Chase. Even the popular trails were too snowed up to ride, so I hit Birches Valley on the roads, which were clear and easy going. The afternoon warmed a little, and the sun stayed longer, and it was in one such moment of clarity that I took in the view of the Weaver Hills from Lady Hill. Good Friday two years ago, I was cycling over there in shorts and a tee shirt.

Dropping down to Rugeley, the snow was clear from the canals, and only lay in the lee of hedges and walls, but climbing out of the Trent Valley at Breretonhill, there were still large amounts of lying snow.

I think this is the coldest spring I’ve ever known.

March 31st – A day of contrasts. I needed to get to a bike shop, and with Chasewater Cycles gone, I could only think of Swinnertons, up on the Chase. I set off mid-afternoon, and crossed Chasewater, expecting it to be heavy going; but most of the paths and tracks were clear, but wet, and it was full of people taking the air. Intermittently, the sun shone through, but it was still bitterly cold. On the west shore, the wind lapped ice pieces ashore like a jingling, glass tide, but overhead, a kestrel hovered, wheeled and hunted with the joy that only the wild in spring can express. I’ve seen kestrels hunting before from the foot-pegs on that pylon. Must be a regular vantage point for them.

Meanwhile, on the north heath, the heathland management team of nine employees were hard at work, managing the heath in their own, inimitable style. The cows don’t seem to mind the snow, and carried on chewing, munching and defecating to their heart’s content.