May 20th – In Leicester today, I noticed this graffiti on a railway bridge. The original text says ‘Small minded vandals’ and some wag has added underneath ‘wearing socks with sandals’ – top marks though for the Anti-Nazi League stencil, and the remarkably detailed stencil of a woman on the capstones.

Graffiti can be a pain in the arse, but I do appreciate it if it’s creative, witty or makes its environment more interesting.

May 19th – In Telford for the day, and what a day it was. Bright, warm and sunny, the flowers and greenery have come on here apace. I noticed my first ox eye daisies of the year, replete with spiders, and cotoneaster in flower, still with some berries from last year. I’ve never seen that before – the fruit is beloved by blackbirds and other songbirds, but the shrub is so prolific here, and the crop so abundant last year that I just don’t think there were enough birds to eat it all.

It makes an attractive display, for sure…

madoldbaggage:

My favourite ride today, I do it so often I could probably do it with my eyes closed if it wasn’t for those pesky drivers, children and dogs!

Whilst watching a pair of herons in the Goscote Valley I wondered (to myself) how many breeding pairs of herons there are in Walsall. Today we saw 6 herons so there’s obviously lots about but do they breed sucessfully and does anyone record this?

The broom is adding vibrant colour to the hedgerows at the moment along with its heady scent.

My only gripe today was the arrogant male dog walker in Pelsall who refused to put his dogs on a lead resulting in me having to brake sharply in order to avoid crashing into the one that walked into my path. When I asked him why as a common courtesy he had failed to do this I was told to ‘cycle on’. Think of a word that rhymes with anchor.

May 18th – Since the sad passing of young cancer patient and charity fundraiser extraordinaire Stephen Sutton, his home town of Burntwood has been spontaneously bedecked in yellow ribbons as a token of mourning and support. I’ve never seen anything quite like this – at least since Diana died – and the floral tributes and book of remembrance at Chase Terrace School, where he was a pupil, are sombre and touching.

It’s worth taking a trip up there to see this, as you can’t capture it in photos. It’s like air air of sadness is perched upon the town. And one of pride, too.

It’s interesting to see how the public have taken to this story, and constructed narratives around it. Propelled by social media and human goodwill, it has been an astounding thing to witness.

You can donate to the Stephen Sutton appeal here.

Cancer is a filthy thing, to be sure. 

May 18th – I like it when things here resolve themselves and intertwine. Way back on April 28th, I spotted an unusual, willow-like tree growing by the canal I’d not noticed before. What snagged my attention were the curious, spiky, flower-like growths, and I asked at the time what the tree might be, and were the ‘blooms’ flower or seed?

The wonderful fellow cyclist Wilymouse kindly pointed out on the original post that the tree was Grey Sallow (or Grey Willow). I learned from a link supplied that what I had seen was the female flower of this tree; the male being the familiar pussy willows.

Check out Grey Sallow here, and the images down the right hand side of the page.

Moving on, Rose Maria Burnell sent me some photos this weekend of seed fluff blowing around Chasewater. Rose assumed it was from dandelions, and I think a lot of it is… but also, it’s coming in huge amounts from grey sallow trees – the spiny flowers I photographed have seeded and are shedding wind-born material into the air, and coating everything with fluff. 

The trees seem particularly dense around Fly Creek and the dam, although they’re all over Chasewater, and the atmosphere is thick with little seeds. At the creek by the boardwalk crossing, the water is white with seed fluff. It’s really quite eerie.

So, mystery solved – thanks to Wilymouse and Rose for the input!

May 17th – I think this is a first for 365 days of biking. This is a photo of something that is no longer here.

This is a cellphone mast, located just off the A38 at Efflinch, near Barton under Needwood. Up until recently, there was a another transmission mast here with a very specific function: it broadcast a non-directional radio beacon for aircraft. The transmission was continual, incessant and could be picked up locally at the very end of the longwave band on a normal transistor radio; it broadcast the morse tones for the letters ‘LIC’ (for Lichfield) continuously in a mysterious, musical tone. I was transfixed by it as a kid, because I had no idea what it was.

If anyone back then had shown me a numbers station, my wee head would have exploded.

The station stopped transmitting in 2010 when the beacon was decommissioned, but I think the mast has only recently gone – I used to watch for it coming home along the A38. Cycling this way, often at dusk, I knew that from here, I was only an hour away from home.

When the relentless, inscrutable morse died, so did a tiny bit of my childhood.

Find out about the end of the LIC NDB beacon here.

May 17th – Out for a leisurely ride in the sun, I took the canal to Newtown. On the embankment near the Chase Road, I spotted these colours of late spring and early summer. Hawthorn, laburnum and lilac, all growing wild on the side of the canal in an otherwise unremarkable bit of Brownhills.

People will tell you this place is ugly, boring and worthless. It’s not. It has immense beauty. But your eyes have to be open to see it – and so does your mind.

May 16th – I’m out in the elements all year round, and from the darkening in Autumn, the loss of leaves and closing in, I long for the days when everything is lush and green again. The jacket summer lends improves just about any spot – for me, it’s not just the warm air, the sun on my face or the birdsong – it’s the emerald greens of a summer in full flush, of the flowering and blossom, and of the maturing and fruiting.

For the last 5 months, this view hasn’t been worth a light, really. But today, on the cusp of another season, the sounds, sights and scents make this a lovely spot.

This has to be my favourite time of year.

May 16th – Early summer, I guess now. I noted yesterday the dog roses in Tyburn, Birmingham, yet hadn’t noticed the highly fragrant bush on Clayhanger Common, just by the canal near Catshill Junction. This time of year is predominantly purple, pink and blue for flowers. Close by, a gorgeous cornflower, and a tiny, delicate vetch.

The flowers will be excellent for the next month or so. Bring it on!