BrownhillsBob

#365daysofbiking Old haunts

July 11th – I had an appointment near Brieley Hill in the morning. The weather was grey and the Stourbridge trains were having a cowturn but I got to Cradley Heath and cycled up the canal through Saltwells.

Years ago, I spent a lot of time in Cradley and its environs. It’s still a busy little town, but it’s changed, suffering the same economic and social pressures as anywhere else.

This is of course, deepest Black Country and I was pleased to see the chain makers still behind Cradley station.

The goats at Saltwells were a pleasant surprise, too.

It’s been a while since I was back here, and it’s still a decent old place. I should come back when I have more time, I think.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2kbbEMx
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Thistle do

July 10th – Also wind seeding, but yet to go over are the many variety of thistle scattered about the verges, edgelands and hedgerows of the area at the moment.

One day I must look up what all these splendid and distinct variants of this beautiful plant are.

These ones found near the canal at Pier Street in Brownhills have tiny, light purple almost lavender blue flowers, whereas other type have larger, more purple blooms.

I get the feeling that thistles are far more complex than I imagine. Must look them up.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2LQ8TvL
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Make a wish

July 10th – By the cycleway in Telford, I found this lovely seed head. It takes a jolly good breath to blow the seeds off these!

Not a dandelion – far too large, at least a couple of inches in diameter, with big, stout wind-borne seeds. The plant itself was a good couple of feet tall.

Following enquiries on social media it turns out to be salsify, or goat’s beard, a plant once prized for it’s edible root.

I can’t say i’ve ever noticed the flowers, though. I must look harder now I know what to spot.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2XJ2ppJ
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Summer slumber

July 9th – Nice to see that with the sun continuing, so does the indolence of the local cat population.

Second night running this lovely puss was asleep in exactly the same spot by the narrows at Catshill Junction.

This time it was displaying a surplus of feet.

Sweet dreams, puss!

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2JC1pti
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking The cycle

July 9th – I’m always interested in insect galls as regular readers will know and one of the most interesting in the UK is the robins pincushion gall, which affects wild and dog roses.

Forming the same way as oak galls – from a wasp injecting eggs into a plant bud which are coated in a plant DNA corrupting substance – pincushion galls are brightly coloured and made up of a solid nodule up to a inch or so diameter, covered in hairy spines, which if you look closely are miniature facsimiles of rose stalks, thorns and all.

Numerous larvae hatch in chambers within the gall, eating their way out as they mature.

This year on a rose where last year’s dead remains of a pincushion gall can be seen complete with cavities where the wasps emerged, there are two new ones growing about 12 inches further up the branch.

And so the lifecycle of a tiny but fascinating insect continues.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2LnVDyO
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Sleepyhead

July 8th – Yay! The season of finding sleeping cats in quiet spots is upon us.

A summer tradition sadly curtailed due to the poor summer this year, with the increase in temperature, I’m finally meeting more wayside sleepyheads and neighbourhood flaneurs out enjoying the weather.

I spotted this tidy little cat on the opposite side of the canal at Catshill Junction, curled up in the grass by the narrows. A dapper, glossy coated puss with a cute black heart on its nose, it barely woke when I said hello.

Welcome back, cats. Good to see you guys.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2lk6DS2
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Flown

July 8th – The galls that formed on the oak trees in spring that looked like rosy apples have now served their purpose and are dead, their bodies spongy and containing many holes where the wasps that grew from larvae within ate their way out to freedom and maturity.

Galls fascinate me: Corruptions of the tree’s buds by a parasitic, tiny wasp, they grow as host to the wasp’s offspring and take many forms.

These expired galls signal the passing of the season and soon we’ll start seeing knapper and artichoke galls which form on acorn buts, but have the same genesis.

Parasites are fascinating.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2XPgjS8
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Exorcising ghosts

July 7th – The sunset was the culmination of a glorious golden hour.

Birmingham and Aston shone and shimmered in the gathering dusk.

A train caught the sky and was golden: Britannia fought a pitched battle on the former hotel roof with the TV antennas. The skylines and canal spoke of quiet dignity, worship and daily life.

I spent many hours as a young man in these streets, on the canals and at this station. The ghosts that haunt me here are not scary, or hostile, but warm and comfortable like enveloping sheets of memory.

My place, my past, present and future.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2lk6C0q
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking What lies beneath

July 7th – It was indeed a better day. The sun was out, the wind had subsided as had the discomfort in my stomach.

I headed out on the canal to Wolverhampton, taking a slow but enjoyable potter down the mainline canal to Birmingham. From there to Aston, where I left the canal and got on a train back to Shenstone.

I noted the Dudley Tourist Board had been working hard to improve it’s customer service at Coseley Tunnel, where I doubt I’ll ever negotiate the southern portal steps with a bike again, although it was certainly an adventure.

Calling at the heavily secured, ghostly Rattlechain Pool, the lagoon concealing many thousands of tonnes of the worst toxic waste was a strange experience: It looks so serene and peaceful, yet the pool – itself just a cap to the material beneath, separated by a thick impermeable skin – is securely fenced and covered by many cameras.

It’s a ghostly and controversial place.

Under the M5 viaduct and Telford’s magnificent Engine Arm aqueduct, the canal is a peaceful, gentle and serene refuge from the mad urbanity above, and the street art is, as ever, fascinating.

Passing on the canal down the Snow Hill flight, I see the view is a matter of opinion. But why? What’s that all about?

A great restorative ride.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2lt2hbw
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Where there’s a will

July 6th – Spotted proudly sprouting from beneath the derelict coal chute at Anglesey Wharf, a bramble appears in rube health after somehow growing through the paper-tin gap between a bolt head and the base of the old chute.

It just went to show, considering my low mood, that nature – and goodness – always finds a way.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2YSKEAz
via IFTTT