Tag: 365daysofbiking

September 29th – Jockey Meadows and the surrounding farmland are shrugging on their Autumn jacket now; the colours are moving from greens and golds to taupe and dark brown. The crops have been harvested, and I expect soon these fields will be ploughed.

This is the sadness of the time of year for me; not yet 7pm, and getting dark; the colours of summer to the colours of cold, and hibernation.

And so the seasons tick on. I can feel the darkness creeping in…

September 28th – Nipping from Stonnall over to Walsall Wood on an errand at sundown caught a misty, golden take on one of my favourite views: The Lichfield Road down into Walsall, and on to the Black Country.

Look at the traffic, the skyline. Then take in the sheer number and variety of trees. We may not realise it, but we live in a very green place. Long may it remain so.

September 28th – Quite a find for me, and only the second time I’ve ever seen it in the wild: orange peel fungus, seemingly growing well on Clayhanger Common, near where I saw the glistening ink caps last week. 

This ascomycete is not particularly rare, and mycologists may scoff at my enthusiasm for it, but this delicate ad small fungi is hard to spot. I’m pleased I found it.

September 27th – On the canal near Newtown, Brownhills, waterside pets. That wonderful dog… possibly a husky, whom I’m told is female, lying imperiously in the weak sun. Such a gorgeous, lupine creature. Her owners must be very proud.

Not far away, on an abandoned fishing peg, possibly the world’s smuggest cat. What a splendid fellow.

I can’t help wondering if the cat teases the dog…

September 27th – I caught a classic, sunny and misty autumn morning just as the mist was burning off. I had to nip to Burntwood on an errand and I took the canal to Chasewater. It was magical and gorgeous.

The spiderwebs on the gorse were captivating and there also seems to be a burgeoning crop of puffballs this year. 

Could this be the last good weekend of the year, or are there more to come?

September 26th – Interested and fascinated to note that the restored windmill at Longdon that I photographed a week ago actually has a sailed that rotates with the wind as required – note the sails are on a different side of the building this week.

That mill has to be a tour de force of mechanical geekery… I love it.

September 26th – I enjoyed the Chase so much the day before, I went back to try a different route, down the Sherbrook Valley, and through the Shugborough estate, returning home via Hixon, Newton and Rugeley.

It was warmer, but the light and colour were just as fine as 24 hours previously. The leaves and bracken seem to be turning very quickly now.

By the way: a discovery. The ice cream van at Milford does Blackjack flavour sundaes. That’s the old penny chew flavour. They are delicious.

September 25th – From Tixall, a stop for tea and cake, and then back home along the canal from there to Handsacre – a fair trip. This stretch, which runs limpid at the rear of the Shugborough estate and shadows the Trent for much of the way is captivating and tranquil. Even as it passes Colwich and the busy rail junction there it seems miles from anywhere.

All the time I was in a gorgeous, but chilly golden hour. 

A wonderful ride that perked up a dreadful day no end.

September 25th – Tixall, the supporting village for the Shugborough Estate, lives in the shadow of its stately brother. But the little hamlet – not much more that a set of converted farm buildings, a huge, folly gatehouse, pepper pot lodge and chapel is beautiful, mores at this time of year.

The grand avenue – stretching across the lane – is still gorgeous, with a sense of sad, melancholy Ichabod as cows browse over the once neatly cut fields around the stone gazebo. 

The pepper pot lodge – designed to mimic the towers on the gatehouse – is a lovely, peculiar curiosity.

I haven’t been here for ages. I forgot how lovely it is.