BrownhillsBob

#365daysofbiking By my own hand

April 13th – Easter Monday was colder. Quite bitter, in fact, so I did essential maintenance on the bikes and pottered at home, before shooting out for a late spin up the canal to test the bike out.

At Clayhanger Common the cowslips are fully in bloom now and the sight of them fill me with pride – as I scattered the seeds that formed these colonies a fair few years ago now. I collected the seed heads from a patch in Stonnall and spread the seed at various spots on Clayhanger Common, not expecting them to take hold.

But they did.

I then used seeds from those patches to expand and create new ones elsewhere on the common.

And now, they’re all over it.

Something I will always be proud of.

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#365daysofbiking Solace in an unusual time

April 12th – And of course, the flowers continued to captivate me. Magnolia, various blossom, primroses, forget me nots, pieris (is that a flower? Don’t know) and green alkanet all entertained and gave me solace in this most unusual of rides.

You can stick the coronavirus where the sun really doesn’t shine but I can handle countryside to myself like this for as long as possible, please!

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#365daysofbiking Renewal

April 12th – Easter Sunday was so quiet as I slipped out on a changeable afternoon. Mindful of the exercise only diktat, I figured a ride around the backlanes to Little Hay and back would be acceptable.

I was shocked to note very few people about at all. I pretty much had the lanes to myself – and how beautiful they were.

The blossom, green shoots and beautiful skies made for a refreshing, rejuvenating ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I really do feel like I’m beginning to get that old spark back.

It’s been gone awhile, washed away in the rains of the winter, I think…

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#365daysofbiking You ring a bell

April 11th – I wasn’t feeling great, so a short spin out over Castle Hill and back to Brownhills up the Chester Road.

In the last day, the Spanish bluebells had come out in the hedgerow near Fishpond wood, and as usual with this colony they ranged in shade from blue, to pink, to white.

A gorgeous spectacle on a day when I didn’t feel great.

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#365daysofbiking On the western skyline

April 10th – I dallied so long in the lanes I caught a great sunset over Sandhills to Ogley Hay.

To the west, beyond the horizon and telltale silhouette of Humphries House, the town I love, largely silent like most of the country right now.

What I’ve realised this last week is twofold, in that human life is separate from the environment, and that nature will always see me through times of the worst stress and madness.

Whatever troubles the world, or bothers me, the seasons wheel keeps rolling on. The clocks still go forward, the light returns, flowers bloom, the days get warmer.

And in the evening, on the western skyline, there will always be that chance of a decent sunset, and somewhere peaceful to watch it from.

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#365daysofbiking Angels of the hedgerows

April 10th – Another working from home day – indeed, it was Good Friday, so I took off for an exercise ride at teatime. The lanes and tracks of Stonnall, Shenstone, Raikes and Hilton were warm and quiet. I saw the odd fellow cyclist, or runner. But mostly it was just me, the birds and the flowers.

The stunning yellow archangel is looking gorgeous at Footherley again this year – a relative of the nettle, I hadn’t noticed it for years, and then it seemed I couldn’t stop spotting it in places where I must have seen it before, but never noticed it.

The grape hyacinths – muscari – are also like little shocks of blue in the hedgerows and gardens I slid past.

We may be locked down, but the riding is surprisingly good at the moment.

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#365daysofbiking Spring flower power:

April 9th – And on my return, the spring flowers spotted in gardens and on verges around Brownhills were stunning.

There is colour everywhere at the moment, from the fragile beauty of tulips to the tiny majesty of the smaller blooms.

Work is still mentally very punishing and it’s not getting any easier – and when working from home I miss the commuting rides terribly – I need light, air, space and engagement with my beloved natural world.

But seeing these beauties makes it all seem worthwhile.

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#365daysofbiking Nest option:

April 9th – Also a welcome and cheering part of spring are the antics of the waterfowl. Not so much the riotous, anarchic mating of the mallards, but the pairing off, nestbuilding and sitting of the other waterfowl – coots, moorhens, Canada geese and swans.

Mrs. Coot was clearly very pleased with this spot as I rode off to work along the canal.

It’ll be nice to see chicks again.

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#365daysofbiking Into white

April 8th – And as I predicted, within twenty four hours that same cherry was absolutely perfect. The clumps of flowers were huge, and stunning against a spring azure sky.

This blossom will be short lived and soon fall like snow, but oh my heart sings for that one sunny morning when I could just stand beneath and drift off, into white.

Things might be OK, after all.

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#365daysofbiking All that I needed

April 7th – I think my mood is improving a little. It really sank leading up to, and over the weekend, but the realisation that life and spring continue are helping me adapt to new norms.

This beautiful cherry blossom is coming on strong now, and this one tree is always so gorgeous. This can never be wrong.

Soon this will be an absolute riot of flowers.

The sun and blossom are all I needed to feel better, I think.

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