BrownhillsBob

#365daysofbiking In the dying hours

December 31st – So it was in the dying hours of 2019 I found myself at Ogley Junction, where I spent much longer than expected. I watched, and listened and thought about my surroundings: An owl over the old boatyard, traffic on the A5. Headlights on Middleton Bridge. The flashes of distant fireworks.The chatter of waterfowl disturbed by a fox.

This year has been arduous, and in places, very hard indeed. Keeping this journal is and has been personally challenging in terms of time and effort required, but I’m so attached to it I wouldn’t dream of stopping now. It’s an addiction.

I may, however, do more days with one post rather than two when busy in future. But my aim is true, I still love this thing, this place and the environment I ride in.

Thank you for following me for another year. I have no idea why you do so, but it’s most welcome. And in the dark and quiet of that old bridge, it didn’t really matter: The attachment I felt was key in those fading, dying, terminal hours of 2019.

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#365daysofbiking Waiting for renewal

December 31st – New Years Eve is not a great time for me. I loathe the enforced jollity, the fake optimism for a time beyond an arbitrary boundary and the excess it engenders. I much prefer the days after, when everything settles and normality returns, with the opening out of the days and the promise of good times to come.

Stuck doing bike maintenance all day to keep busy, a test ride around the canal was fun after tea – the towpaths are starting to dry out a bit and the riding was fast and fun.

Brownhills looked festive but somnambulant and was actually very quiet apart from the odd burst of fireworks.

An unexpectedly fun ride.

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#365daysofbiking Over the rainbow

December 30th – Finally, a ride over the Chase. it started late, and felt very, very cold (although it wasn’t, particularly, just out of practice) but it was gorgeous.

Up over Rainbow Hill to Moor’s Gorse, up through Slitting Mill and Birches Valley to Penkridge Bank – from there the Ranges, Wolseley Plain and Abraham’s Valley to Seven Springs. All in the most gorgeous sunset.

The trails are mostly badly water damaged with large water channels washed into them; but it wasn’t as muddy as I expected and going surprisingly good. A lot of fallen branches, though.

Nice to see the deer at Penkridge Bank, if only form a distance.

Not been able to do much riding over the Chase this winter. I’ve missed it. Let’s hope for better weather for the rest of it.

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#365daysofbiking Linearity

December 29th – The ride cut a bit short due to the sunset alert, it was a good chance to try the long exposure on the M6 Toll from the Pool Lane bridge.

It rarely disappoints, I just wish it had been a shade busier.

These shots always make me think of science fiction artwork: the vanishing points, the defined, rigid lines. The tapering geometry.

Splendid, and very fun to take, even on a cold night.

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#365daysofbiking Caught in time

December 29th – The sunset was gorgeous, but I and my companion were not in a good place to record it. A quick summit meeting and we raced to Chasewater and got there as the sundown was in it’s dying, deep pink phase, which made for some lovely long exposure photos.

I guess folk must be sick of seeing Chasewater here, but when it’s as beautiful as this I’ll never tire of it.

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#365daysofbiking Spruce up

December 28th – I called in a a friend’s house, who’s garden was done the whole hog for Christmas – but unlike the usual garish, flashing lights theirs were small, gentle and beautiful.

There is something unendingly charming about Christmas lights on spruce, and I can see why it has captivated generations.

It was nice to see something so pretty amidst all the garish flashing and glare elsewhere.

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#365daysofbiking The blue period

December 28th – A stretch up to Walsall Wood on my way to Aldridge in one of those remarkable but fairly rare blue dusks we sometimes get at this time of year.

There must be a meteorological or astronomical reason for them, but I have no idea other than the fact that they are really, really beautiful. The view from Hollanders Bridge glowed in the cold night.

Reall, really gorgeous.

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#365daysofbiking Starstruck

December 27th – Back in Brownhills I turned back in the gloom to look at Morris, splendid even on this unpleasant evening.

He doesn’t mind the rain, he’s maid of stainless steel. He’s constructed to shine whatever the conditions. And in the murk tonight, with Christmas lights behind him, Morris was a splendid symbol of home with more than a little star quality about him.

I think I should be more… Morris.

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#365daysofbiking A hidden gem

December 27th – It was a grim, grey afternoon and I had to go to Erdington – of all places – on an errand. I saddled up and headed my usual route over Shire Oak, down the Chester Road and through the leafy private estates of Little Aston to Sutton Park and on.

It was a foul, wet afternoon, with little to commend it. But I did stop for a breather at Little Aston Church, a really fine example of GE Street’s devotional and elegant design in an interestingly bright stone.

I have to say, it was the most handsome thing about the day.

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#365daysofbiking Fading from view

December 26th – Returning down The Parade into Brownhills, a mist was rising and rain was falling. It was a miserable night.

The lights and mist combined though, and there was something eerily magical – if not a little unsettling – about it.

I was glad to get home.

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