Tag: 365daysofbiking

March 26th – In Telford for a meeting, the footbridge project continues it’s bizarre stop-start behaviour, baffling to the uninitiated. Piles are bored and concreted now, sheet piling has appeared along the roadside, and a cavity there had been dug – maybe for a pier or lift-well. Steelwork has been driven into the earth and cut to varying lengths, and there a lot of noise and action. But no visible chap yet, and nothing on the Euston Way side of the station at all. 

I guess this is one of those puzzling projects that will just sudsy come together, but it’s very intriguing to watch.

March 26th – My goodness I’m having trouble keeping up with this this week, apologies – have no fear, normal service will be resumed forthwith!

Spring is coming to the hedgerows, edgelands and waysides, almost in spite of the lousy weather generally. Although we’re having some good days, mostly the weather is still grey and cold, and Winter is beginning to feel like the unwanted, hated guest that will never leave. 

Nature is doing it’s very best to push winter away – the daffodils are well on the way now, with the large beds on roadsides starting to come out, and to my surprise, ornamental prime blossom on a trading estate in Telford.

There’s brightness, as there always is. But you have to look for it. Hard.

March 25th – Lee Marston settling lakes continue to fascinate me. Created from old gravel pits in the early 80s, they are now more or less redundant as heavy industry is no longer polluting the Tame in Birmingham, and Minworth sewage works is a lot cleaner than it was; the dredging of the settled out toxic silt has now stopped and the site is becoming a haven for wildlife. 

It really is quite beautiful.

It’s still a live river, though, and where the weir carries the water downhill a notch, the plastic bottles and detritus still circle in the vortex here, a sign of our huge problem with plastic waste.

March 25th – A long ride, 58 miles, at a decent average of 12.5mph saw me ride out via the backlanes of Stonnall, Buzzards Valley and along the canal to Kingsbury, then over to Hurley, Grendon, DOrdon, Polesworth and up around Seckington, Clifton and home via Whittington. It was a gorgeous spring day, with warm sun on my back, daffodils in the hedgerows and lots of surprises – like the peacocks in the garden at Footherley and the gorilla statue I must have passed many times, but never seen, at Lee Marston, outside the large factory that’s now an industrial park.

There’s a story there I’m sure.

Whittington Church is really worth a visit at the moment – I passed as darkness was falling but as can be seen, the churchyard is a veritable riot of daffodils.

A great ride that really cheered me up.

March 24th – One thing I am liking very much at the moment is the improvement works to the Shire Oak Junctions. At 8pm on a Saturday it was of course quiet, and the asphalt glistened in the light in the damp of a short, passed shower. But the new surface, more intelligent light operation and better lane markings have made a real difference, and queues along the A461 – particularly at peak times are significantly reduced.

When Streets Corner is also complete, I expect the difference will be really noticeable. 

Well done to all concerned.

March 24th – I had stuff to do at home, and didn’t get out until after dark, when I nipped down to Stonnall to call at a pal’s house.

Stonnall is an interesting village; it seems to be sprawling and dormitory now, and I caused a bit of a fuss a few years ago on this journal for likening it to Stepford; but the housing here from the postwar decades does seem to have enveloped what must have been quite a characterful place, and I find that the older buildings and their charm only become really evident now after dark.

It’s a nice enough place, for sure, but time hasn’t been kind to it.

March 23rd – lAte at night, I needed to pay a call in Brownhills and found the High Street and Silver Street canalside deserted. The night was still, there was little traffic but I was surprised to note even at a late, dark hour Canada geese were active on the canal bank.

I hope they’re keeping their wits about them – I also saw a large, male urban fox in the High Street and he’ll soon have mouths to feed too.

March 22nd – Oe gets used to seeing rats about when you’re an urban cyclist, and there tend to be a fair few prime specimens on the urban canals. What I didn’t realise until I started cycling regularly along inner city waterways is what accomplished swimmers brown rats are.

There is a colony on the far side of this bridge in Pleck, Walsall; I often see them running along the opposite bank in and out of the drain holes and scrub. But several times, I’ve scared them from the towpath, and they’ve hopped into the canal freely and swam home to the other side. Sadly, I’ve never been fast enough with the camera to record one actually swimming.

Today, I saw this large specimen by the bridge (Bottom left, top picture. Look carefully) – I startled it and it ran for the water and swam to safety. But note the line of wet paw prints, the line caused by a dragging, wet tail and the water from a shake dry. 

It came from the other bank to feed.

Rats are remarkable.

March 22nd – Still a nip in the air, but all along the canals of the Black Country, life is waking up, shaking off the taper of a long winter and getting on with nature’s imperative – and that included the waterfowl. 

I notice lots of ducks, Canada geese and swans now closely paired for mating, busily courting each other and nest building.

A lovely sign that better days are on the way…