Author: BrownhillsBob

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

April 4th – Today was not a photogenic day. My journey to the station at Telford – about three miles – was against the wind and in a steady rain, felt much how I imagine being shotblasted to feel. It was the kind of rain that made your forehead hurt.

At the other end of my commute, I chose my return station with care. I could have come from Walsall or Shenstone, but the latter offered the choice with the favourable wind. Positively blown home, there was nothing that inspired me to get the camera out until I tackled Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills. The weather had been dire, yet I was coasting up a really quite nasty hill without thinking. I reflected on the nature of this hill over history – this small group of old houses would have been the Sandhills of old, one being the Leopard pub – closed at the turn of the 1900’s, but with a two-century history. What would it have been like to climb this hill in say, 1850? 1800? 1750? 

An old route through an old hamlet. Never really noticed  before.

April 4th – Well, I wasn’t expecting snow. Up early, I looked out of the window just as the white stuff started falling. I’d been expecting a foul commute, but in reality, it wasn’t too bad. It was cold, and damp, but a lot less so than if it had been raining. The biggest hazard was the slipperiness of the roads – not due to ice, but due to weeks of tyre rubber, spilled diesel and silt building up on the road surface without rain to wash it away. In the meltwater, it became a black, slippery goop, just aching to take the wheels from under the unwary cyclist.
The snow was certainly a shock, though, and amongst the spring blooms and blossom of Telford’s roadside verges, the patches of snow made for an unusual, slightly sombre sight. 

April 3rd – Today was about the sky. What it threatened, what it was. What it held back. It was distinctly wintry after recent days, and as I arrived at Shenstone I noticed the old tower visible on the skyline next to the pronounced gargoyles of the new church. Feeling spots of rain on my head on platform 4c at New Street, I looked up. The sky was still being threatening. When I left work and arrived at Telford station, it was wet, miserable and grey. I had a long way to go tonight, and it didn’t look like the commuting gods were on my side. 

Actually, it seemed I was wrong. 

Top Tube Map of Traffic Free Cycle Routes in Birmingham

madoldbaggage:

I don’t know who NBC is apart from being a member of the Birmingham Cyclist Forum but I would like to thank them for designing and making available this wonderful resource for anyone who wants to know where they can cycle locally (ish) in a traffic free environment. Absolutely brilliant!

Top Tube Map of Traffic Free Cycle Routes in Birmingham

April 2nd – Working in Telford today meant returning late from Walsall with the wind behind me, a few weeks since I’d undertaken this commute. The wind eased me home, as did the impending drizzle, and my legs found quite a bit of energy from somewhere. Cresting the Black Cock Bridge, I noted how grey it all looked, and how depressing it seemed. Yet it was 6:45pm and still light. That’s a good thing, I guess. I put the camera away, and sped downhill to Brownhills with a less heavy heart.

April 2nd – Today was overcast, grey and towards evening, showery. This came as some shock, despite it being the normal seasonal fayre for this time of year. I’ve grown used to the sun and warmth, and to snatch it away now seems a little churlish. Never mind though, there’s the daffodils. Be it in Telford or Shelfield, they are a positive yellow riot at the moment, and they brighten up even the dullest commute. 

April 1st – The smallholding near the canal at Newtown, in Brownhills, seems to be thriving. The pigs look happy and in good condition, and seem to be increasing in number. As I passed, this cheeky fellow was proving the old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. He’s obviously deft at this, and I collected the wool he’d snagged on the barbed wire to hang up for nesting birds at home.

April 1st – Didn’t get time to go far today. I did get to Chasewater during the dog-end of a gorgeous afternoon, however. There was a stiff breeze, but it was still relatively warm. I noticed along the canal that the hawthorn leaves were coming out, and the gradual greening of fields and woods has started in earnest. I noticed at Ogley Basin in Brownhills that the dredging equipment and silt screens from Anglesey basin were now finished with, and the stricken dredger was still in dry dock. Little dredging actually seems to have been done, so I’ve no idea what actually happened there. At Chasewater itself, access has now been opened up again to foot and bicycle traffic from the canal, and access now seems possible to the park once more. During an enjoyable hour talking to a very knowledgable old hand by the new nine-foot, I learned that the contractors will be offsite by next weekend. I also discovered that the marsh in the spillway isn’t the Sphagnum Lawn, but a different bit of preserved wetland from the old nine-foot. Whoops… must correct that on the main blog. 
The works are looking pretty decent, and all that’s left to do now is a little rain dance and hope the water level rises as quickly as possible. 

A commute from the 26th March, turned to video to go with an article on my main blog noting the first anniversary of this journal. Please read the original article by clicking here – and if the video above is blocked in your country, there’s an alternate version linked in the article. 

Here’s to more of the same… and another 365daysofbiking.