January 2nd – First day back to work, and a lovely commute. The roads were quiet, and the weather reasonable. I just got time to take a quick shot of the dawn over Hill Hook and the Sutton Transmitter. It’s somewhat out of focus, but not too bad. I felt good, and despite the trains being abysmal, it was good to be back.

It felt doubly magical, because this is the second birthday of 365daysofbiking. I actually started the project in April, 2011 in order to ride every day of the 30 days of April, mainly to stop fellow twitter cyclist Renee Van Baar from nagging me about it. At the end of that month, i was enjoying the thing so much I carried on, and vowed to make it 365 days.

Sadly, over the new year of 2011/12, I suffered bad food poisoning, and was off the bike for two days. I was gutted, and so feeling cheated, I started again. 2nd January 2014 – today – was the second anniversary of that resolution.

Last year I agonised over whether to continue, this year I don’t. The eagle-eyed may have noticed I installed a hit counter here a couple of weeks ago – just under the search box on the right. That tells me lots are still reading this, so it seems worth continuing, and it’s part of me now. The urge to get off the bike, stop, and look around is now so habitual that I don’t think I could really stop.

Statistics for this year gone have been a tad more modest at 8,732 miles. That’s still  about 24 miles a day. A remarkable total of 15,356 photos have been taken. On the journal so far, there have been 2,212 posts. I have cycled continuously, every day, for 730 days. It seems wrong not to at least make the 1,000.

In total, the journal has run for 1,003 days from the start, and something in excess of 25,000 miles.

Thank you for riding it with me. As long as people are enjoying this, I’ll keep doing it.

Your comments are, as ever, welcome, even if it’s just to tell me to shut the hell up…

January 1st – Welcome to 2014. So far, this year, the weather has been 100% wet…

Sorry for the repetition, but when I went out in the evening (having sadly foregone the traditional New Year’s Day ride on the Chase due to the poor weather), it was still raining hard. I was wet. It was horrible. Every interesting photo meant the camera lens getting covered in raindrops. It was, to say the least, challenging.

The sodden loading bay at Aldi, Brownhills, was an interesting mix of textures and colours, and the lights of the canal side and Humphries House rarely disappoint.

Dejected at not finding better subjects, I rode home. Hopefully, we can shut the door on this windy wet weather soon…

December 31st – I had to pop out to the cashpoint, so took in a loop of Brownhills. It was very quiet, little traffic was disturbing the night. It was calm and the three-faced liar – the Council House Clock – told the right time.

I looked at Morris, welcoming in the traditional Brownhills way, arms and heart open, but with a weapon to hand, just in case. He seemed appropriately optimistic.

Even the canal looked oddly festive.

Like Morris, I welcome the new year of 2014 openly. Happy new year to all readers, all of you who I know follow my journeys. May the new year bring peace and happiness to you all.

December 30th – Up the road in Pelsall, I slipped into the village unnoticed by the border guards, who were clearly either slumbering, or skiving the night off. I like Pelsall. It’s villagey, and semi rural, but a bit up itself sometimes. I noticed a new cafe here I must try out.

I’m wondering if the letter ‘I’ went missing from the Kandu Hair salon sign as an act of sublime urban mischief or just happenstance; maybe the owners are planning to convert to an Afghan restaurant and wanted to save on a new sign.

Yes, I know it’s not quite the right spelling, but it’s close enough for Pelsall…

December 30th – Not many folk realise but we now, for the first time in decades, have a paramedic base in Brownhills. 

Just at the side of the Activity Centre – the former Central Boy’s School – the railings have been removed, and an office fitted out. A paramedic response vehicle waits here, silently anticipating the call.

This evening, there was no need to be out, and I hope they had a quiet Christmas. I hope they have a quiet 2014, too; but it’s nice knowing they’re there, ready for the call.

Happy new year to those. Waiting. Just in case.

December 29th – One of my favourite sets of Christmas lights is a simple run of coloured bulbs along Minster Pool in Lichfield. When I came here before Christmas, I was sad to see that weren’t on; fortunately, it appears to have been a fault, and the wonderful LichWheeld told me they were on the following day.

I returned, just to see them. I think the combination of light and reflection is magical. It’s my inner child coming out.

December 29th – I stopped by at Hademore on the way back. This sleepy hamlet was once a cluster of farms, houses and an explosives depot (yes, really) surrounding a level crossing. Now, the crossing has been removed. Some railway cottages were demolished in the upgrade of the line, the old signal box moved to Chasewater, and Hademore found itself riven in two by the railway and bypassed by a loop of horrid road with an equally abhorrent utilitarian flyover.

There is great history here – on the long road from Whittington to Elford the Marquis of Donegal had his house, Fisherwick Park, and the surrounding grounds were designed by Capability Brown. They were all carried to dust, however, when in 1810 the estate fell into the possession of the Howards of Elford, who ploughed up the lawns, demolished the hall and converted it all back to farmland.

A few relics remain, including the big old gateposts that stand here, moved from a site nearby when the railway would have ploughed through them itself. 

The other relic on this once-busy road is the Post Office K6 red call box; now with it’s phone removed, it still has a working light, shining like a beacon in a shorn hamlet that nobody passes through anymore.

I guess this is just the sadness of things.

December 29th – I rode out lunchtime, and just rode. It was a lovely day, with gorgeous light, and a lovely winter sunshine chill. I didn’t take many photos – some days, you just don’t – but it’s a ride that will stay with me for a while. It was peaceful, the roads were quiet, and there was an atmosphere of calm tranquility.

Here at Hints, just outside Tamworth, leaning on a gate at the foot of the ancient Gold’s Clump, overlooking the Black Brook Valley, I watched the sheep grazing an the light fade, content.

This is what I’d been needing since summer ended. I felt alive again.

December 28th – Cannock Chase was great, but winter came in today; it was sunny, clear and cold. I really felt the winter in my bones. But plenty of folk were out enjoying it and it was beautiful, as only the Chase in winter can be. 

The golden hour was enchanting, and caught the pines near Sow Street beautifully, as it did the heath at Rifle Range Corner. On the way back on the canal, the sunset was beautiful, and the evening light even made the canal at Armitage look a picture of tranquility.

By the way, if you’ve lost a cuddly stuffed toy horse and/or a pair of specs, they’re sat on a post at the back of Seven Springs car park. It’s unclear whether they’re normally together, or just met in their loss…

Weather gods, more of this please.