October 2nd – As well as Leicester, there will always be a place in my heart for Derby, which similarly, is often dismissed as grimy, post industrial and dull – but such dismissals are wrong. Very wrong. Derby is full of lovely wide streets like Friarsgate, and around every corner there’s another interesting piece of architecture. And of course, the majesty of the River Gardens and Cathedral.

One of the best things is you can come all the way from Osgathorpe, near Melbourne, right to the River Gardens, on totally traffic free trails and only have to cross a handful of roads.

October 2nd – The run from Leicester to Derby is lovely, and contrasted sleepy waterways with stunning brutalist architecture, wide vistas, quiet trails and bustling shared-use tracks beside busy roads. 

I love the wind turbine, and the halls of residence at Loughborough University look like some spaceship ready to launch. But the sleepy views over the west Leicestershire countryside were gorgeous, as was the tranquility of the car-free trail into Derby over the Trent at Swarkestone.

A great ride.

October 1st – Nice to see the cotoneaster going bright orange-red now. This pea-sized berry is unpalatable to humans, but songbirds, particularly blackbirds, love the sugary berries, and having found a bush, the blackbird male will fight off any challengers who would raid his winter larder.

A lovely splash of colour in autumn’s otherwise yellowy palette.

October 1st – Although the wonderful Indian summer continues, each day seems to be getting noticeably colder now. Mid afternoon in the sun, it was warm on my back, like April; but move around and autumn chilled the air. It’s making for some divine golden hours, though, and the scenery around the canals is gorgeous now. Trees are turning, and soon everywhere will be golden.

Autumn is OK once you accept it.

September 30th – Sadly, my morning photos came out terrible today, so just the couple. But they show something lovely – I’m assuming this bright climbing plant growing on the hedgerow near the Black Cock Bridge is Virginia Creeper. Unassuming most of the year, in the last couple of weeks it’s come alive; and in these gorgeous Indian summer golden hours it glows in the evening cool.

The whole place looked splendid as I passed. It’s gorgeous.

September 29th – But still, there’s colour. There aren’t many places along the canal from Walsall Wood to Brownhills to catch a good sunset; sadly the best spots are obscured by hedges and trees. But as I passed the new pond at Clayhanger, the sun had smeared it’s last rays of the day over the clouds and vapour trails and made the evening precious.

September 29th – Jockey Meadows and the surrounding farmland are shrugging on their Autumn jacket now; the colours are moving from greens and golds to taupe and dark brown. The crops have been harvested, and I expect soon these fields will be ploughed.

This is the sadness of the time of year for me; not yet 7pm, and getting dark; the colours of summer to the colours of cold, and hibernation.

And so the seasons tick on. I can feel the darkness creeping in…

September 28th – Nipping from Stonnall over to Walsall Wood on an errand at sundown caught a misty, golden take on one of my favourite views: The Lichfield Road down into Walsall, and on to the Black Country.

Look at the traffic, the skyline. Then take in the sheer number and variety of trees. We may not realise it, but we live in a very green place. Long may it remain so.

September 28th – Quite a find for me, and only the second time I’ve ever seen it in the wild: orange peel fungus, seemingly growing well on Clayhanger Common, near where I saw the glistening ink caps last week. 

This ascomycete is not particularly rare, and mycologists may scoff at my enthusiasm for it, but this delicate ad small fungi is hard to spot. I’m pleased I found it.