April 26th – I nipped down to Stonnall late afternoon on an errand. It was a hazy day, but pretty clear, and as I crossed the Shire Oak junction, I noticed that a patch of sunlight was moving over Lichfield. Pulling in to the quarry gateway, I thought I’d try the new camera on the view. Not too shabby, really; it was very misty, but the Old Lady of the Vale looked splendid, as did the Coors (formerly Bass) brewery tower in Burton. In the upper shot, the disused cooling towers of Willington, near Derby, are clearly visible. 

I never tire of this view, and I love the way it’s greening up as the leaves come on.

April 26th – I spotted her on the opposite bank of the canal from Clayhanger Common. Sat on the canalside verge at the bottom of Silver Street, Brownhills, a proud mallard mum with a brood of very young ducklings, mostly well tucked in underneath and shielded by her wings. 

I’ve never seen a mallard do this before. The motherly pride in her offspring is quite clear – I found it delightful.

April 25th – This one’s for Trevor in Oz. You may miss life here when it’s sunny… but not on a went Friday afternoon.

A horrid ride. They guy soaking me in the last 10 seconds just clinched it.

The audio is the remarkable ‘Rain Dances’ by 1970s prog-jazzers Camel. Recording used at normal speed.

April 25th – Riding in the rain when the weather is warm isn’t that bad – once you’re wet, you’re wet and with waterproofs, that takes a good while. But after a week at work, when you’re tired, the light is poor and the traffic relentless, you just want to get home, have a shower, put something fresh on and have a decent cup of tea. 

These bike cam stills give a flavour of the journey. Like riding at night, it’s mentally very demanding, as there’s more stuff that you have to mentally process, and the traffic tends to be mad.

I was glad, If I’m honest, to get home.

April 25th – A dreadful commuting day, really, and not a great one at work, if I’m honest. I returned home late afternoon in a rainstorm. The rain was warm, though, and what wind there was seemed to be behind me. Coming from central Walsall after picking up some shopping, I crossed the Arboretum Junction, and whilst waiting at the lights, noticed the surface water problem here was getting worse. In heavy rain, the asphalt here doesn’t seem to shed water, and a 3-4mm  covering develops over the entire junction. I’ve never seen any road do this before, and must be a peculiarity of the surfacing.

It’s bad enough of a bicycle. Feel sure someone is going to aquaplane across here one day…

balltobuild:

09.03.2014. “ Erewash Valley Trail ” The return

For the most part of the return we are on bridleways and the disused Nottingham canal. Parts of the old canal have been filled in completely, Although some sections still hold water, and indeed fish. As you near the outskirts of Nottingham we are unfortunately pushed onto the roads and shared use footpaths. And then into another nature reserve just before the Trent Way path, Which then takes us back to Trent Lock ! our start point. A very enjoyable days cycling with perfect weather. 32 mls on the trail, added to the 16 mls on the Trent Way in the morning, 48 mls ! our longest trip to date.

balltobuild:

Sunday 30th March 2014 “ Disused and abandoned ”

Just a few more pictures from our cycling trip Ironbridge to Bridgenorth, from the disused power station, to the abandoned farmhouse & the tree that is slowly but surely reclaiming this brick building. This trail is littered with history. In fact the area gets it’s name from the world first cast iron bridge that spans the river severn, but guess what, ( I didn’t get a picture )

balltobuild:

Sunday 6th April 2014

” Kenilworth to Warwick ” ( entirely off road )

Regular followers of this blog may remember a post a few weeks back when we used the sustrans route from Kenilworth to Warwick, I wasn’t a big fan of the route, and was quite critical about it. We were then messaged by a fellow tumblr user, informing us of a regular route he uses along bridleways from Kenilworth castle to Hatton locks on the grand union canal, which we could then use as a link to Warwick.

With nothing better to do with our Sunday ! we decided to check it out. We picked up the bridleway at the rear of the castle, the first section was extremely muddy ! in fact impassable in places ( even on foot ) perseverance paid off, as it wasn’t long before we hit decent paths meandering through the Warwickshire countryside. Lots of reap seed fields that were just starting to flower, the last pic with the very angry sky, was approaching Hatton park estate, we were greeted by a sign requesting that the local dog walkers use their poo bags.

balltobuild:

Thursday 10th April 2014

” Deja ” not so Vu, two

It never ceases to amaze me how ! when your cycling along at about 10mph, how much there is to see. All these cheeky chappies were all very happy to pose for photographs.

Although some of them were clearly very busy ! Like the ducks shepherding there ducklings, The one protecting the nest was very vocal ! trying to warn off other waterfowl, notably a couple of swans, who incidentally were just finishing off a rather nasty fight. The Heron was doing it’s very best to stay perfectly still, his only giveaway was the occasional blink.