Tag: 365daysofbiking

August 27th – The rain held off while I visited the Festival of Water at Pelsall, photos of which are on my main blog here, but I caught the warm rain on the way home, and didn’t really mind.

I explored the North Common which I hadn’t done for years, and for an ex-industrial wasteland, it’s a beautiful place with great biodiversity. Rabbits, mustelids and birds are flourishing here, wild sweetpea still in flower, while willow herb and butter and eggs added additional colour. A huge crop of crab apples hangs from branches, although due to the nature of the ground, I wouldn’t prepare anything edible from them.

A rare treat and well worth exploring, even on a wet day.

August 26th – it’s been 7 years since I last rode this way. A fast run through Whittington, Harlaston, Clifton and Overseal, over to Moira where, looking for a cafe, I found Moira Furnace, which looks worthy of a more extended visit. Up through the ex-mining villages, through Blackfordby to Foremark Reservoir, as peaceful as ever it was. Back via Repton, Willington, Burton and Lichfield, a 72 mile ride at a fast pace, finishing under a gorgeous sunset.

It’s the little things you notice, the owl on a gatepost, the view up the Trent of the disused towers that will soon be gone, and the lovingly cared for Ford Escort that seems to look better now than it did when it was a current design.

A great ride.

August 25th – North Street, The Butts in steady rain. Late again.

At least it was warm rain, and there was an excellent takeaway to look forward to at the end of it.

I still can’t get used to the tower block with the bizarre white halo. Walsall Housing Group did a fantastic job of refurbishing Austen House, complete with geothermal heating and solar panels – but I do find the aesthetics a bit odd.

August 25th – Passing through Pleck, I noted the ‘legal name fraud’ posters are appearing again.

To me, it’s inconceivable that someone could have the wealth to pay for these, yet the stupidity and lack of insight to believe the moronic, pseudo-legal claptrap they espouse.

If you’re puzzled, read this article, and note that it’s all related to the Freemen of the Land muppets… 

Beware: googling any of this opens a whole world of rambling rubbish.

August 24th – Another spell of working very, very late. On my return I was tired and irritable, and fell straight into bed. Work is the busiest I’ve ever known it at the moment and balancing everything is very hard.

Despite the late hour, the new leisure centre at Walsall Wood still looked quite busy – it’s been impressive how well used and received this facility has been.

Those people seem to have the work-life balance managed a bit better than me at the moment…

August 23rd – Like an idiot, I left home without my camera today, but on a midday train journey to Telford, I met this lovely old lass off on holiday to Wales with her dad.

Apparently Jess likes a swim in the sea, a bit of seaside fish from the chip shop, and a little beer in her bowl of an evening. And long walks in the hills.

I hope Jess and her dad have a lovely holiday. She surely is a gorgeous dog.

August 22nd – I note a fair crop of acorns this year, and like last, I was caught by false memory with the knopper galls.

I tend to think these parasite-created growths happen earlier in the year than they actually do, and always assume we’re not going to see any when they’ve not appeared by late July. Since they’re caused by a wasp larva hatching in the acorn bud, they can’t occur earlier than the fruit, can they?

The tiny wasp that drills it’s egg in to the fruit bud earlier in the year – coated in a secretion that will corrupt the bud’s growth plan into these curious galls – is pretty unremarkable. But the distorted, knobbly knopper galls are glossy, leathery and fascinating.

Nature can be very weird sometimes.

August 22nd – I had to pop to Telford mid day, and leaving the station for the cycleway I looked back and noticed something in the sea of built environment – the tip of a yellow drilling rig near the westbound railway platform.

I noticed a few weeks ago there was an application to build a replacement bridge here – the current one is decaying, and not compliant with disability legislation (the slopes would be very unpleasant in a hand-propelled wheelchair, it’s clear to see). The proposal is in, and it looks like the engineers are doing ground investigations in readiness of anticipated approval.

I never noticed the rig as I rolled past, and it’s position was very secluded – but looking over, it’s quite large. 

Hiding in plain sight.