January 5th – Errands in Brownhills before a well-deserved evening with good friends found me dashing up The Parade in Brownhills. I notice there’s been a lot of work done here on the north of Holland Park by Walsall’s countryside services team. One of the things they have done is to cut down the scrub and hedge that screened the former cricket club car park from the road. Previously, it was a haven for antisocial behaviour and other mischief, but thanks to a bit of lateral thinking, now it’s not a place to hide.

Just one of the small, but significant things a busy team does to make lives better. Well done, folks.

January 4th – Walsall and it’s boroughs can be very, very odd sometimes. Here in Walsall Wood, the planning system threw up a peculiar juxtaposition. Oak Park is the local leisure centre, with a large car park at the front, itself fronted once by an expanse of grass. Over the road, a private health centre converted from a former night club. Inbetween the two, a Kentucky Fried Chicken drive through was built, as if to mock the punters attempting to keep fit.

The construction of this unusually located fast food joint was protracted, and difficulties  in planning were extensive, but there it now sits in its red and white illuminated, plastic glory, attracting far more customers than both its healthy neighbours combined ever could.

And it smells revolting.

January 4th – There was a bit of a psychological barrier I had to cross: I wanted to still do this, but I think I’d mentally prepared myself to stop; so like slowing down on a bike as you reach the bottom of a hill, you’re robbed of momentum and it takes you a while to build it back up. I found it hard to take pictures. This I know, will pass; I’ve had it before. It’s like I’m trying to deny myself something.

I reflected on this whilst stopped at the lights coming from Walsall that evening. The nights already seem to be opening out, and I had hat feeling that Christmas was way behind. But two days of work had left me strangely enervated. Life is odd sometimes. When the lights changed, I just hunched over and went for it. 

Sometimes, that’s the only thing to do. 

January 3rd – This is the entry I wasn’t going to make. I really wasn’t going to continue. Then, I had my mind changed. You can read about that later today on my main blog.

So when it came to actually taking pictures for it, I was still wrestling with whether I should or not on the way home. So, with the gorillapod at the bottom of a tea-logged saddlebag (don’t ask) I headed for the industrial estate on Maybrook Road, Walsall Wood, and then checked out the rapidly decaying Wheel inn, nearby on Lindon Road.

There’s something about the actual act of taking photos I like. It gives me a buzz. I guess, in the daily grind, and terrible weather over Christmas, I’d forgotten that. The joy of the hunt. The pleasure in finding a really good photo.

Sadly, I think it rather eluded me today.

But hey, tomorrow is another day, and tomorrow never, ever knows…

January 2nd – I rounded the bend towards Brownhills, and the overflow near the Pier Street Bridge caught my eye. Only a few days ago, this was a raging torrent, flooding the land behind, struggling to cope with the downpours that had constantly filled the canal. Tonight, it was quiet, a relative trickle. The land behind was still saturated, but draining, slowly. There was very little sound. I thought about it for a while. The transitory nature of the water, about beginnings, endings and direction.

You see, today, It was the end of 365daysofbiking. I started this odd mission on April 1st, 2011, after being cajoled into it by fellow cyclist Renee Van Baar, originally only for 30 days. I enjoyed those 30, and resolved to do a whole year, but last new year I was very ill indeed. I missed two days laid up, and returned to the bike on the 2nd of January 2012. So, the mission is now complete, but I have cycled all but two days out of 21 months.

I’m quite proud of that, but more later. Is this where the story ends?

January 2nd – So, back to normal. The festivities over, Christmas decorations down, the rain, just for now, gone. This time last year I was struggling to ride at all. This Christmas has been a little odd: very little riding for the sake of it, and fearsome bad weather. I’m hoping for a better new year; maybe we’ll get a proper summer this time, not just warmer rain, although on the canal in Brownhills, early evening, early January, it was warm, clear and dry. Perhaps it’s a good sign.

January 1st – If you’re thinking of traversing Bellamour Lane, between Colwich and Colton, near Rugeley, I’d leave it a couple of days. Under the railway bridge, the road is flooded to some depth. I tried it, but gave up when the water rose up to my crossbar. The road could certainly do with a with some ‘Road Closed’ signs, I certainly didn’t appreciate the u-turn and long journey round. 

January 1st – Happy new year! A great ride was first of the year, up onto the Chase. A clear, chilly day, but not terribly cold. Chasewater was rammed, as were most public spaces I passed through. There was winter sun, and everything was drying out; folk walked, spotted birds, or accompanied children on new Christmas bicycles. I watched families feeding the gulls from the balcony boardwalk on the south shore with water lapping underneath. That was a sight to see after so long being land-locked.

Further on, the Chase was similarly packed, but in the remoter spaces at sunset, the beauty of solitude remained. An unsuccessful badger spotting foray meant cycling home at dusk, and returning via Rugeley.

This was the Christmas break I wanted, not getting wet all the nine. Oh well, never mind…

December 31st – I returned to the top of the Black Path in Brownhills, where I’d accidentally found the flooding on the previous Saturday evening. This time I had a decent camera and could record the fact that, stood in the middle of the pool, was a lit and working street light. I suppose the connection point is above water level, but even still, it seems remarkable. The remainder of Holland Park still seemed rather waterlogged too.

I’m hoping now for a period of stable, dry weather to dry things out a bit. Wonder if I’ll be lucky?