#365daysofbiking Humongous:
September 19th – A real find on the enclosed football pitch next to the old Smith’s Flour Mill in Walsall, next to the central Ring Road – quite the largest giant puffball I’ve ever seen.
This prize specimen looks a little old to eat and was beyond reach anyway through the fence, but I did giggle at the idea of it being kicked accidentally, mistaken for a football.
What a whopper!
#365daysofbiking Portal:
September 18th – Still surviving and developing is the fascinating green tunnel over the desire-path behind the canal overflow at Clayhanger. Now completely overgrown and just the right size for an adult to squeeze through, it’s a fascinating product of what I suspect is a regular dog walking route.
I hope this continues to be used – it’s such a lovely, happenstance thing
#365daysofbiking Sparser:
September 18th – The flowers are getting sparser now, and soon the only real blooms will be the gorse, and the odd winter stragglers. On the grass verge outside work, the birdsfoot trefoil – egg and bacon – is still going strong, and you can see well how it found its name: the seed heads look like bird’s feet.
#365daysofbiking A bitter pear:
September 17th – The pear tree in Clayhanger has had a good season, against my expectations.
I had thought the crop this year would be poor due to the dry summer and ravenous birds, but it’s been heavy and the fruit are large and softer than the usual small, bitter offerings. And mercifully free of bird-pecks.
But oh my goodness they’re sharp!
A lovely thing to see.
#365daysofbiking An impressive span:
September 17th – At Telford, a major step in the contstruction of the new station footbridge has been taken – the deck of the main span over the ring road adjacent has been lifted into place. It’s huge.
I watched it grow from a skeletal form on the central reservation of the road system, to see it glazed clad and wired, and now it spans the roadway in parallel with the facility it is to replace.
As a design, I’m ambivalent, but it will be a much nicer, convenient thing to use. But there’s a long, long way to go yet.
At least it provided the morning commuters with an interesting spectacle.
#365daysofbiking Farewell wellfare:
September 16th – The rain steadily increased, and I headed up the gorgeous Cross o’ th’ Hand lane to Farewell, where I called in at the church in steady rain.
Farewell church, possibly dating back in part to the 1400s (some say earlier) is gorgeous and the rain enhanced the sad beauty of the roses in the graveyard.
A sad day punctuated with great beauty.
#365daysofbiking Dead and buried:
September 16th – A grim, drizzly afternoon and a late escape. I went to see if there were any remnants of an ancient burial mound called Offlow near the hamlet of Swinfen, trapped in the A38-A5 interchange triangle, just south of Lichfield.
Apart from a rise in the general landscape, there was nothing but a cellphone transmitter, but I expected that as history says that Offlow was lost over a century ago to farming.
I returned via Lichfield over the Bridleway over the A38 up past Harehurst Hill, near Wall. The main road – pretty much a motorway in all but name – has left a much larger impact on the land than Offlow ever did – which is a bit sad.
#365daysofbiking Still hanging on:
September 15th – Back on the canal in Brownhills on the way back home, the autumn was far more subtle. The hawthorn hedgerows are very, very crimson this year with hawthorn berries showing a particularly heavy harvest, and the reed beds, grass and waterside trees are still pretty green.
If I tried hard, I could just forget the oncoming season and still convince myself these were the end days of a great summer.
#365daysofbiking Tinges:
September 15th – Nipping top Shenstone and Aldridge on errands, I stopped on the railway bridge to survey the classic view over the rooftops of the village, to note that autumn was coming here now – and not just the accelerated leaf drop of the leaf-miner affected horse chestnuts, either – but tinges of red and brown in most of the trees.
Soon this will be a riot of colour, and then bare trees again to close out the year.
Where has 2018 gone?
#365daysofbiking Night comes in:
September 14th – The golden hour continued into dusk, and pottering down the canal by the Clayhanger overflow the sunset was stark, harsh and beautiful.
I love this view, it’s one of my favourite local views and I’ll never tire of it.At the end of a long, tiring week it was a great pick-me-up.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 