January 6th – Then there was this fellow. Just look at the unbridled smugness.This is a cat whose self-belief defies his probable hatred of water.

Perched casually on a tree trunk sticking out of the canal bank in Pleck, puss is about 2-3 feet over the water. If he fell off, he’d be very wet and there’s no easy escape; but this cat is unconcerned. 

He just sat there, looking pleased with himself. 

January 6th – A fair commute in both directions for once, in fact almost sunny.

On the way, the sun was trapped above low smog but I didn’t mind – as I came through central Walsall on the ring road, it made everything look beautiful. I don’t know if it was just in the haze or my mind, but everything was suffused in a delicious yellow, soft light.

The Workhouse Guardian’s Office in front of the Manor Hospital may still be derelict, and gradually being carried to dust, but it’s at times like this it regains some of the lost stature.

Could do with a few more days like this, please.

January 5th – My experiments with the night-time view of Wednesbury’s twin sisters from Kings Hill continue. This is the third camera I’ve had a go with, and the best so far and more what I was after, but the limitations of the Nikon S9900 – lack of manual focus and noise – were very apparent.

I know what I want, and this is almost it, but I need to learn more about the craft to get it, I think.

It’s still beautiful, though, and one of the best views in the Black Country.

January 4th – Still, once I was wet there was no point in not enjoying the environment. I keep playing with this view of Clayhanger Bridge from the canal. Today, I used the bike light to highlight the railings and overflow. It seems to have worked but would have benefited from a tripod.

One day I must set out to learn what I’m doing with a camera.

January 4th – A wet commute both ways; not full on rain, but periodic drizzle. It was a clingy, cold kind of wet that soaked you without actually doing much.

Fed up of the traffic on the way home, I hopped on to the canal at Walsall Wood – a real mistake. Everything is saturated, and the mud and puddles are endless.

January 3rd – A late, wet spin around Brownhills after another very, very wet day. Thankfully, I had a huge amount of paperwork to do for work, so at least I didn’t feel so bad about missing a decent cycling day.

Brownhills was wet, dank, and once again, oddly warm. I hardly saw a soul, and the only sounds were my wheels squelching through the puddles and of water flowing endlessly into drains.

I think I’d be better at this rate flogging the bike and starting 365daysofcanoeing…

January 2nd – This is the fourth year to the day of continuous cycling. As of today, I’ve ridden a bike every day for 1461 days. I can’t believe I’m still doing this, that I’m still here today.

Of course, the fifth anniversary of the blog comes on April 1st, but the first new year of this journal (2011-2012) I was very ill and missed two days, so I started the counter again.

It’s been a long way, but I’ve enjoyed it, and still do. If you’re still up for it, I’ll continue, but if this is tired or dull now, tell me.

Of course, it’d all be a lot more interesting with decent weather, but it was very poor again, with continuous rain for most of the day. It stopped briefly, and I nipped out on errands. As I passed by Walsall Wood Bridge, a narrowboat passed beneath. In an impetuous moment, I wondered if I could catch it from the other end as it approached Hollanders Bridge. 

Turns out there was bags of time.

January 1st – New Years Day 2016, and the weather is so unseasonably temperate that calendula are flowering on the verge in Barracks Lane, just at the Warrenhouse, near Brownhills. And they aren’t the only thing.

I welcome the colour and cheerfulness, but this can’t be right, can it?