April 4th – Passing through Lichfield and back later in the day, spring really was in the air. The sun shone patchily on the rolling landscape between the canal and Hammerwich, whereas Minster Pool was dark and broody. On my return, I noticed gorgeous colour as the weeping willows are in bud in Festival Gardens, and grape hyacinths are growing well on the verges of the main roads.

One odd thing is the white plant flowering at the edge of the verges; this tiny flower is Danish scurvy grass, a formerly coastal flower that thrives beside main roads in the salty soil caused by winter gritting.

April 3rd – It’s Good Friday. You’re going home, mid afternoon. It’s raining, you’re wet and you just want out of here.

The trafic is awful and backing up. It’s time to just go for it and get the hell out.

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

April 3rd – This is a crime warning.

The canal towpaths and waterside footpaths are, as is usual at this time of year, inhabited by attackers, muggers and aggressive beggars. Hormonally aggressive, the Canada geese and swans really aren’t messing around at the moment and will go after anything – walkers, cyclists, dogs.

This pair at Walsall Wood have been hanging about all week, and I now carry tidbits for the male to stop him pecking my ankles as I pass.

I’ll be glad when mating is over and they go back to their usual grumpy but relatively nervous state. 

April 2nd – Slow handclap for the Canal & River Trust, then, who micropiled around this sluice earlier in the week – there’s little evidence of their handiwork and you can barely tell they were there. Excellent.

Except for the existing trip and accident hazard no effort has been made to fix at all. Someone on foot or a bike is going to go flying off that, you muppets.

I’ve reported it several times, but I may as well have been peeing into the wind.

April 2nd – The shoots and leaves are coming now, and it makes me happy. Spotted beside the cycleway in Goscote, and interesting variety of nascent foliage, and once again, the greening commences. 

I adore the promise of this time of year; it may be grey and dull now, but these signs of life promise warm days, sunshine, long rides and open trails.

Bring it on.

April 1st – It doesn’t feel like spring right now – another pair of wind-blasted, periodically damp commutes; but in the hedgerows, verges and field-margins nature is stirring. The pussy willows are flowering well, the blackthorn is smattered with blossom and there are the bright green shoots of a new growing season beginning to show.

I have the feeling that if I hold on, spring will kick in very shortly…

Which is just as well, as today is the 4th birthday of this journal. On April 1st, 2011, fellow cyclist and full time Dutch Cycling Girl Renee Van Baar persuaded me to do #30daysofbiking for the April social media project. The rest is history.

I have ridden a bike without fail every day for four years, all but for two lost days to illness over New Year 2011/12. I have now cycled well over 1,000 days continuously, and logged a picture or short film from every day.

I couldn’t give up now. This is ingrained in me, as part of my daily riding habit. Tens of thousands of miles in everything from bright sunshine to heavy snow, I’ve chronicled my life on two wheels. The drive to keep the journal keeps me connected with my environment and still makes me look at things afresh, and sometimes, gets my arse into gear when I otherwise wouldn’t.

I will continue this as long as I’m able, but if it gets embarrassing or unseemly, just tell me to stop. Relying on you lot there, so I am…

Thanks for riding with me. I’ve had a great time so far, and I’m looking forward to a great summer. You lot up for it?

March 31st – At Clayhanger Bridge on the canal near Brownhills, there’s a sluice that allows the waterway to be drained into local sewers if necessary. I noticed today that it had temporary fencing around it, and that micropiles – stainless steel rods inside sleeve tubes and packed out with expanding foam – had been fitted around the sluice and along the adjoining canal bank.

This is clearly a stabilisation job, and I’m intrigued as there’s not real outward sign of such a thing being necessary – except for the fact that I suspect the bank and culvert may be subject to destructive erosion if used, which these piles may relieve.

The tops currently stood proud will be chopped off at ground level later.

Meanwhile, closer to Catshill Junction, the embankment has been falling away into the canal for over a year, and nothing has been done despite drawing it to the attention of the Canal & River Trust.

Most peculiar.

March 31st – A dreadful day to commute, although you’d never tell from the photos. It was very, very windy all day, with strong gusts that felt very threatening. I cycled to and from work in sun, overcast grey, rain and hail. The weather didn’t stay the same for five minutes. Talk about four seasons in one day.

Still, the young heron by the canal at Clayhanger was an unexpected treat. Hopefully, the wind will die down tomorrow and the weather may settle a little.

March 30th – I keep banging on about this, but it is rather great. On a blowy but beautiful spring morning, I dawdled through Kings Hill Park. With every week of spring it gets that little bit more green, that bit more in bloom.

Today it was gorgeous. Can’t wait until there’s some leaves on those trees. Wherever you are, get into your local parks. Walsall’s people work hard to keep our open spaces looking great. Enjoy them while they’re at their most beautiful.