Author: BrownhillsBob

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

#365daysofbiking Home on the range:

September 9th – I rode up to Cannock Chase late in the afternoon, going via Chasewater and Cuckoo Bank then over Rainbow Hill and up Kitbag Hill; from there down Abraham’s Valley to the A51 and back through Rugeley, Armitage and Longdon.

Autumn is always a return here and the fungi is starting to come through, but there is still colour in the hated Himalayan balsam and evening primrose. The forest was thankfully deserted and a climb onto the old butts on Wolseley Plain was worth the effort.

Autumn is really tapping me on the shoulder now and seeing sunset at 7:30 was a bit of a shock.

Ah well, a nice ride but could have done with a bit more sun…

#365daysofbiking Headache grey:

September 8th – My hopes for an Indian summer were looking a bit forlorn as I sneaked out in the evening for a circuit of Clayhanger and Brownhills, looping back around Chasewater. It was grey, wet and cold with alternate heavy showers and periods of light drizzle, but none when it wasn’t raining at all.

The green was trying to shine through, but fighting a losing battle under the headache-great sky, reflected off the canal and wet town.

Apart from the odd car, I don’t think I saw a single soul about. A hard, wet ride that I was glad to return from.

#365daysofbiking Springing up like… Mushrooms?

September 7th – Up on the old rail line, I noticed that with the damp weather, fungi was now coming through after a very thin summer.

I’m glad to see this as the mycology fascinates me; most folk don’t realise that generally toadstools and mushrooms are merely the blooms of larger underground organisms, and the colours, textures and shapes fascinate me.

I looks like this spot will be a good place to find fungi this autumn.

#365daysofbiking The trains don’t run here anymore:

September 7th – The weather was still grey and unpleasant, cold with a sharpening wind and summer seemed a long way behind me. But I felt like a bit of an explore on the way home so I hopped up onto the old South Staffordshire Railway that carried freight when I was a kid.

Carefully restored and maintained by Back the Track as a cycling and walking greenway, it’s peaceful up there and as Vivian Stanshall put it, you’re nestling in green nowhere.

There are good views of the canal, Clayhanger Marsh and Ryders Mere, and plenty of birds and wildlife to spot.

It’s also home to one of the most mournful monuments to a lost railway I know: The solitary remaining signal post of Norton Junction.

Still, the ladder makes a great vantage point for photographing the marsh…

#365daysofbiking Coo, gosh:

September 6th – I don’t know where they’ve been hiding, and they weren’t telling, but I was greeted at the gate to the water meadow in Green Lane by a nearly full compliment of coos, which numbered 9 I think (one remained stubbornly eating a bush some way off).

These lads, here to maintain Jockey Meadows by eating everything they can and churning up the damp soil will be here a week or two and are even tempered, healthy looking bullocks.

Nosey in the way only cattle can be, they came to investigate me but didn’t come too close.

A lovely sight.

#365daysofbiking A bit Woody:

September 5th – Good to see the singular Walsall Wood cygnet christened Woody has survived and thrived. This couple haven’t historically had large clutches of eggs and I was concerned this year to see just the one chick, late in the season.

It has however thrived and is now nearly the size of it’s parents, and they remain a tight family group.

A wonderful thing to see.

#365daysofbiking All misty wet with rain:

September 4th – A very wet commuteto work along the Goscote Cylceway on NCN 5 was actually far better than I would have expected, as the rain on on the hedgerows and berries lit them up and made them precious.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hawthorn harvest this heavy – from a distance the hedgerows and trees appear red.

Not a bad ride, despite the weather.