#365daysofbiking Sweet thing:
September 25th – Again returning through Stonnall, I stopped to take a look are the venerable, reliably productive sweet chestnut that is always so beautiful on the corner of Main Street.
Always laden with nuts in their prickly, fur lined husks the tree is healthy and always fruits well; but sadly the climate in the UK isn’t favourable for producing sweet chestnuts, so the kernels are always small and thin.
They’re still beautiful, though.
#365daysofbiking Squaring the circle:
September 24th – Returning via Shenstone from an afternoon trip into Birmingham, I noted that the recent days, having been sunny and comparatively warm, were bringing out the joy of Autumn, and I was feeling more positive.
At Footherley Lane the old bridge was beautiful as the sun went down.
Soon these trees will be golden, then bare once more, but it’;s all part of the circle and the circle must be round.
And as long as there will be some fair weather, I think I’ll survive.
#365daysofbiking How do you like those apples?
September 24th – Interesting to see this year the large crop of healthy, plump fruit, which has turned my understanding on its head: I always thought that in hot, dry summers fruit harvests suffered.
This autumn, the hedgerows, commons and woods are populated by trees laden with fruit – from hazelnuts to apples, beech nuts to pears, it’s been a fine harvest.
These apples growing by the canal at Darlaston actually look delicious, but sadly, well out of passing reach…
#365daysofbiking Better than expected:
September 23rd: On the canal on the way to Chasewater, I stopped to admire the view. It was a lovely autumn day and the colours of the dying back vegetation in the golden hour were gorgeous.
This is a lovely stretch of canal, particularly at this time of year for obvious reasons, and it gives great views of the Anchor Pub and Bridge.
Considering the weather forecast today was awful, it didn’t turn out too bad in the end.
#365daysofbiking – Not dead yet:
September 23rd – I said the other day that there were not many flowers about at the moment, and I hold my hands up: I wasn’t looking hard enough.
Coming into a second flush of flowering now, the dead nettles on Clayhanger Common are having one last yahoo before winter.
Absolutely gorgeous as only they could be. Such a cheering sight.
#365daysofbiking Repellent magnetism:
September 22nd – There’s a current fad happening on local canals at the moment that’s really bloody irritating.
Magnet fishing.
Well, perhaps not the activity itself, but the end result. Chancers get hold of very strong magnets on the likes of eBay and then tie them to a line and dredge them along the canals to see what metal they pull out.
I guess they’re looking for interesting stuff, but nobody’s going to pull out gold coins, only ferrous stuff, obviously although I’m not sure the anglers have twigged that yet.
The problem comes when they pull out worthless junk: They just leave it on the towpath for some other poor sod to deal with, where it blocks access and really makes the canals look messy.
To my mind, these people are, at the very least, littering and should be prosecuted if caught.
Thankfully, selfless and dedicated volunteers in collection boats – here seen passing through Tipton – are working to clear up the mess left by these irresponsible, greedy scavengers.
#365daysofbiking Warm rain and what lies beneath:
September 22nd – Thanks to a reminder from the most excellent Stymaster, I got to attend the Tipton Canal and Community Festival, all be it on a really wet, rainy dray. The weather notwithstanding, I had an excellent time, as can be seen on my main blog here.
Having ridden to Tipton from home in the rain, I decided to carry on down the canal into Birmingham following the old mainline into Birmingham.
This time of year, the Galton Cutting is gorgeous, and it’ll be even better when the leaves really start to turn.
The huge maze of scaffold under the M5 viaduct at Oldbury is hugely impressive from underneath, too. I wonder how many delayed, queueing motorists above know the complexity of what lies underneath them?
#365daysofbiking Duck tales:
September 21st – The humble mallard duck doesn’t get much love, but I’ve always held that, like magpies, if you study them in any more than the most cursory fashion, they’re absolutely beautiful. The iridescent, shimmering greens of the males are lovely enough, but also the females are very much more than drab brown; if you study them, they have the most gorgeous blue and white flashes on their wings.
But better than appearance is their personality and social behaviour – here on the overflow in Brownhills near Silver Street, the ducks were in parliament doing what ducks do – sat in running water, dozing, chattering and generally being the best ducks they can ever be.
Such contented creatures.
#365daysofbiking Ample shroom:
September 21st – The fungi are appearing thick and fast now, with the damper, cooler weather as is normal for autumn. Spotted near Clayhanger when homeward bound, this shaggy ink cap was a decent, large specimen and had there been more than one, might have been decent eating.
Used to see loads of these when I was a kid, but in recent years they appear to be rarer, which is a shame. They’re nice lightly fried.
#365daysofbiking Welcome to The Suck:
September 20th – It started with a bang: The Suck, the gradually darkening, menacing and psychologically hard commuting journeys from now until Christmas began today with a twilight, torrential rain soaked journey from Darlaston to home.
Drenched in spray, nearly left hooked twice, perpetually on guard for bad driving this was the worst journey I’ve had in years.
At one point I just stopped and took refuge in a bus shelter to calm down. The sheer hard work of concentrating and being aware enough to survive in this conditions is a gargantuan effort.
But I made it home, and as I once again get used to this, it’ll be less of a trial.
Winter sucks you down.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 