Tag: 365daysofbiking

#365daysofbiking Lit for nobody in particular

Friday December 18th 2020 – I had to pass through Walsall as I headed home from work. I had an errand to do, and I left as night fell. I thought I’d take a look at Town Wharf, the canal basin at the top end of town that was always intended to be the heart of Walsall’s millennial rebirth that wa in reality a slow developing child that 20 years later is still immature.

The Wharfingers cottage, rebuilt after it’s accidental demolition (!) is a good example: Empty for pretty much 15 years, it was finally occupied by a restaurant. Sadly, as we are in lockdown, they are confined to take-away only.

The lighting though, is gorgeous, and makes for a lovely photo. I always find this area bittersweet: It photographs beautifully but there’s always the vague smell of lost horizons here.

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#365daysofbiking The changing skyline

Thursday December 17th 2020 – Another classic muse for me in winter is the view from Catshill Junction Bridge towards Brownhills, over the wide of the junction to the new flats in the foreground.

When I started this journal, only the tower block to the left was here and the rest was mostly derelict scrub, cleared of a large tower block in 2004.

As the years passed, new housing appeared and the skyline has totally changed – you used to be able to stand here in a feeling of solitude, but not anymore. Humanity is close now: You can smell cooking, cigarettes. Hear chatter, TVs and kids playing.

The skyline has changed, for the better, and I think makes for a more interesting photo. But I do miss the solitude a bit.

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#365daysofbiking That’s enough for now, please

Wednesday December 16th 2020 – Talking of water, the overflow at Clayhanger Bridge, safely conducting the excess canal water to the Tame via the Ford Brook is at a fair pelt in this wet season. I really am getting fed up of the mud and rain and would like a dry spell for a while.

With everything that’s going on in the world, would it be really be too much to ask for a cessation in the mud and wet grime of urban life with daily rain?

I shan’t hold my breath but I fear I might be getting webbed feet.

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#365daysofbiking Going with the flow

Tuesday December 15th 2020 – For the most of the last year or so, Chasewater has been full to overflowing, or very near it. I guess with the pandemic there haven’t been the boat movements on the canal, and not as much demand for water. But it also seems the authorities prefer to keep it full these days.

For most of my youth the lake oscillated between full and very low, but since the dam work a decade ago, it’s been maintained much higher.

It’s been flowing over the weir and into the spillway, and ultimately into the Crane Brook for months now, which I’m sure is contributing to flooding near Hilton, but I can’t be certain.

It’s fascinating to watch though, and good for the wetland on the spillway.

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#365daysofbiking Dark light

Monday December 14th 2020 – I have no idea why, but sometimes, just sometimes, there’s a strange twilight that conveys not light, but darkness. It happens at dusk, often with low, patchy cloud on days that have been changeable.

The light takes on an almost oily quality. The view here is normally fairly open over the canal to Clayhanger Bridge, but this evening’s light, in it’s contrast and dingy shadow, make it look confined and closed.

I’ve no idea what this is technically about, but it’s fascinating.

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#365daysofbiking A synthetic approach

Sunday December 13th 2020 – Out delivering Christmas cards, I came back through Chasetown in the early evening.

Chasetown always looks lovely at night, even more so with it’s Christmas lights back to full strength after a few years when they were minimised to save money: But one thing I can’t make up my mind about is the artificial Christmas tree.

It looks the part, and is very commanding. But it’s not very… Traditional.

Impressive, but I’m not a fan, if I’m honest.

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#365daysofbiking A completed job

Saturday December 12th 2020 – One thing that had been a bit sad about the Christmas tree going up on the miner island in Brownhills was that there seemed to be an electrical fault with the existing, permanently installed lights on the trees around Morris. When the tree was connected, these stayed resolutely off and we assumed there was some terminal flaw.

Thankfully, council electrical wonks attended, and have got the lights working again, for which we are all grateful: Morris now has that Vegas sparkle returned and he is surrounded by festive sparkle.

A job well done, and seen through to completion: Thanks to all involved!

You can find out more about, and donate to the Brownhills Christmas Tree Appeal by clicking here.

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#365daysofbiking Inverted again

Friday December 11th 2020 – We’re seeing a lot of inversions at the moment, where the air temperature relationship with the ground is the opposite to normal, resulting in a low level mist that can be really stunningly dramatic.

I was working from home and sensed an inversion happening, so shot out to Chasewater with a pal. We were not disappointed. The heath, being naturally wetland, readily throws up a mist into the cold air clamped to the ground, and it caught the dying sunlight beautifully.

It was also evident on the lake surface, but very patchily.

A beautiful evening to be out, and I’m glad I caught it.

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#365daysofbiking Haunting lights

Thursday December 10th 2020 – Coming home on yet another wet night, I turned to look at Chandlers Keep across Catshill Junction just as it was starting to come on to rain again. I thought it might make a good photo.

This worked better than I imagined it would, and I think it’s mainly due to the reduced sideways glare from LED streetlights used on that development.

They also give a really interesting ghostly aspect from a distance, that seems more pronounced in damp conditions.

There really is a theme lately: There is beauty in the grimmest nights I think.

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#365daysofbiking Harbour lights

Wednesday December 9th 2020 – The houses that replaced the marketplace and wasteland at Silver Court Gardens have been a welcome addition – and the Moorings, the road alongside the canal where the new house front the waterside – is really nice.

There seems a real community spirit there and no matter what the festival – VE Day, halloween, Christmas – the neighbours really get together to jazz up their houses and bring some happiness to the town.

As I passed on a wet night, I thought what a lovely little community it was, and what a great asset to the town the development had become.

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