December 26th – A ride up to the Chase on a windy but beautiful day. Starting late, I had to be back early too, so it was a bit of a race with a good companion who’s considering buying a bike and borrowed a steed for the occasion.

Near Cuckoo Bank, we saw a herd of deer in a roadside copse – I assume they’d moved off Chasewater which was very busy, to avoid the dogs and crowds of folk enjoying a Boxing Day walk.

In the low sun, the dear looked beautiful, and there were at least ten or more loafing in the scrub. I didn’t take these photos, my companion did, but they’re too good not to use.

A lovely ride.

December 25th – Mrs. Muscovy was still in her favourite spot when I passed by. Still solitary and apparently contemplating. Escaped from the nearby smallholding, still resisting recapture, this funny fowl is inscrutable and something of a local canard celebrity.

I wished her a Merry Christmas, and after nearly a year on the run, bid the Newtown One another year of singular freedom.

December 25th – The traditional Christmas Day ride was short this year – not much time, and the wind was somewhat challenging. A dive into Stonnall and back up to Chasewater had me pass these characters outside the converted barn at Stonnall.

They genuinely made me smile. Merry Christmas!

December 24th – Scouting for deer, I came across this pair of bandits on the canal towpath by Clayhanger Common. They normally dwell in the field off Northfields Way at Clayhanger, but keep escaping, the owner apparently at a loss to know how. As a consequence, they roam Clayhanger village and common, and are developing somewhat truculent personalities. 

It took some coaxing to move them so I could get past!

December 24th – Christmas Eve was a quiet, resting day. After all the work and stress of the previous weeks, I pooled around Hammerwich and the local canals just looking to see what was around. It wasn’t a cold day, and the although a bit windy, the riding was good.

Hammerwich Church remains beautiful, and it’s the little details that make it – the working weathervane, the architectural details, the views of the old windmill.

In the village itself, a small, charming nativity outside a private house.

I think it must be Christmas!

December 23rd – Further on, I caught Morris Miner and Silver Street in better light than had existed the day before. With the lights on the trees, and the worst of the blue LED light installed to illuminate him failing, the statue looks much better by night, and even as something of Vegas about hime.

The pickaxe still annoys me though.

I note the building works continue at Silver Court Gardens and their lights are already helping to make what can be a very desolate spot just a bit more welcoming.

December 23rd – Again up at the sparrow’s cough, this time I needed to go to Bridgnorth, and again had a long day before me. The dawn was warmer, and the early morning less grim than the day before.

At Silver Court, the newsagent was just open – but the building lights hadn’t clicked on yet and the shop sign made for an odd, otherworldly, brutalist portal.

December 22nd – Up very early to head to Bakewell, I kn ew I’d be worn out on my return, so I went for a spin in the early hours before I left.

Heading through a dark, pre-dawn Brownhills that was quiet and untroubled, I didn’t see a soul and felt like a somnambulant, cycling ghost.

At Silver Street, even the boats were in darkness and the waterfowl weren’t up yet. I surveyed the scene with a full day ahead and reflected on the quiet, so far unawakened would around me.

December 21st – And so, on the way back to Brownhills, a familiar subject that was today in darkness due to the lack of moonlight. The canal was millpond still and there was little wind – a situation that looks about to change, with incoming intemperate weather threatening.

I can remember really, really cold Christmases – with snow on the ground, if not truly white – but we haven’t had one for a few years now.

I suppose s decent covering of snow this winter is too much to ask?