Author: BrownhillsBob

I told the truth - but told it bent. Wandering around bemused and ranty since 2007.

#365daysofbiking Telford – a paradoxical historic new town

February 12th – Telford is a new town that’s about 50 years old: Yet it’s also a place of great history, considered by many to be the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Today, I discovered that even under the ‘new’ Telford there is a big, big past.

Riding up the cycleway to Hortonwood, I go towards Stafford Park then turn over the pedestrian bridge and go through Priorslee. At the Stafford Park/Priorslee crossroads, there is a mess of old signposts, their boards removed when the local cycle routes were redesignated. On the orphaned posts, as well as the usual mess of Sustrans guff were new stickers for The Miner’s Walk.

Intrigued, I looked up the website mentioned on the sticker, and found that it’s a local history project with a five and a half mile walk through industrially significant spots in North Telford.

There is a great website here. – go check it out. It’s superb.

I found out that only a few hundred yards from this spot, up until about 1910, there was a mine called Dark Lane Colliery. In 1862, it was host to the worst loss of life in Shropshire mining history when 9 men and 3 boys crashed to their deaths when a cage rope came free.

I had of course heard of the Dawley pits, and those of Coalbrokedale, but had no idea the history was so complex and far north.

So those little stickers led to me learning something new today. Wonderful.

I shall be investigating this further.

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#365daysofbiking Hello old friends

February 12th – One of the most reliable indicators of an ending winter are the daffodils on the corner of Wood Lane and Chester Road near the (soon to be closed) Wyevale garden centre.

Every year without fail they are the earliest patch of wild daffodils I see, usually appearing in the second or third week of February.

This morning, they were blooming bright yellow for my as I rode to the station, like old pals stand at the roadside to greet me.

Hello, old friends. Welcome back. Good to see you, and the springtime you bring. Looks like we both survived another long, dark winter.

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#365daysofbiking Crossover point

 

February 11th – Riding back from Shenstone Station in the region of 6pm. Still just about light at Fighting Cocks.

this time next week it will be merely twilight here at this time.

On the darkening lane, the trees and farm buildings silhouetted agains the western sky, this was beautiful, but chilly. I loved the effect of the passing cars.

Slowly but surely the daylight’s winning the battle.

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#365daysofbiking Regrouping:

 

February 10th – there were a very large number of deer on the north heath – loafing in the marsh, and up in the woods towards Fly bay. There must have been 45 or so.

Of course, they always regather in herds in spring, and the animals were content to browse the scrub, meadow and heather and doze in the copses.

I still can’t believe we have these wonderful animals right here on our doorsteps. They are so beautiful.

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#365daysofbiking The rising

 

February 10th – A real four seasons in one day experience, with rain, snow, hail and bright warm sunshine that made for a great afternoon at Chasewater. From the snowdrop glade near the derelict dam house to the view over the fields from the canal to Hammerwich, they day was just bursting with spring.

The water level is rising fast now too, with Fly Creek and the feed from Jeffrey’s swag now enlarged by recent rains.

This spring thing. It’s happening. And most welcome it is too.

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#365daysofbiking Night ride home


February 9th – A run out to lichfield for shopping, some air, a coffee and hopefully to catch a decent sunset over Stowe Pool.

Fortunately, the sunset was dire as when I pulled out the camera, the battery was flat. Oh dear.

Returning after dark over the mortuary bridge at Summerhill on the A461I tried the camera on a couple of classic night shots. It didn’t do too bad to be honest.

I realise most of the magic is in software but it’s still remarkable how well these tiny little cameras perform.

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#365daysofbiking Deep blue

February 8th – I was in Walsall for a meeting, early evening.

In that weird interregnum between day and night, today the sky turned a remarkable, beautiful blue.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually been to Walsall town centre, rather than merely passing through. I expected it to be awful, and haunted by better memories.

It wasn’t, it was OK.

The only thing blue this evening was the sky. Perhaps my battle with my lost youth has been won.

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#365daysofbiking Snoozing it out

February 7th – I have a new pair of pals and I’ve called them Arnold and Flossie.

This pair of young swan mates have been hanging about the canal at Bentley Bridge, between Pleck and Darlaston for a few weeks now and are surprisingly tolerant of human company.

I suspect they may well nest this year, which would be nice to see.

On this windy but otherwise pleasant, sunny morning they were both dozing on the towpath, out sheltering out of the wind when I stopped. They both listened while I talked to them and they allowed me to take photos without too much grumping.

I look forward top seeing more of these gorgeous characters in coming months.

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#365daysofbiking Hello I must be gecko-ing

February 8th -Taking a shortcut through the Tannery Estate in Birchills, North Walsall during the morning I noticed an interesting pair of wall ornaments on the edge of the communal pathway between the apartment blocks.

This metal lizard and frog friend have been carefully mounted on a garage wall, in the gardens.

There’s no obvious reason for them to be there at all, and I couldn’t see any other such ornaments, but they’re beautiful and delightful; a lovely thing.

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#365daysofbiking Under the bridge

February 6th -The lighter evenings, although coming on fast now, have not reached the far end of my commute, and I tend to do the canal less in the dark, as riding the towpaths at night – even with my excellent front light – is a constant mental grind.

Approaching Clayhanger Bridge on my way back to Brownhills, I stopped to check a text, and realised how bright my light was, to catch Clayhanger Bridge like that.

It’s still a constant effort not to end up taking an early bath, though…

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