July 27th – On Clayhanger Common, there is a thriving population of teasels. A spiky, spiny, purple, prehistoric-looking plant, our ancestors used the dried seed heads to tease wool and fabric.
Some of these plants – once a very rare sight in these parts – are six feet tall now and in rude health. A fine symbol of the biodiversity and health of the common here – which only 35 years ago was a polluted, barren and filthy refuse tip.
July 27th – After a day of unexpected but nice things – a meal out, some good family time, a bit of productive bike spannering – I slid out on a finely-tuned steed to enjoy the cooler air that had come in during the day. At the canal in Walsall Wood, near the Black Cock Bridge, the embankment strengthening I recorded last week has come on apace. The sectional piling now seems to be working it’s way up to the bridge itself, and is fascinating to see.
I heard last week from a comment on Facebook that residents here had been waiting for this work for years. It looks like a decent job, and I hope it solves their problems.
July 26th – I’ve recently discovered Darwin Park – the long avenue through the new housing estate in south Lichfield. It’s very impressive, if a little artificial, but I do think it’s nice, and also a very decent traffic-free route out of the city to Waitrose.
There’s a pond there, and on this hot afternoon, Mrs. Mallard, with what I assume must be a second clutch, was promenading in the sunshine. More indolent, but no less cute, were a pair of swan parents with six offspring.
Mr. Swan was a little truculent, but his offspring were unperturbed by my presence. I’m absolutely captivated by cygnets this year. The positions they get their resting legs into are fascinating.
This is a lovely place and a new asset for Ye Olde City.
July 26th – Taking it easy with the foot, it’s clearly not going to heal quickly. It was a lovely hot day, however, and I needed to get some shopping done, so I gently pootled into Lichfield in the afternoon.
Riding down Pipe Hill I expected a cooling breeze. It was actually like being blasted by a hot-air hand drier. The day was the hottest I think I’ve known for a while, and the impression the languid, green town had on me was restorative and relaxing.
Lichfield may well be up it’s own arse, but it is beautiful in places.
July 25th – I nearly squished him (I assume it’s a he), but this common toad was quite happy in the middle of the towpath and wasn’t moving for anyone. I lit him carefully with my bike light, and I think the results aren’t too bad.
I love frogs and toads. So full of character.
July 25th – The Catshill swan family seem to spend a lot of time at Anglesey Basin, and tonight they were group-preening and loafing by the waterside, totally relaxed. The parents let me get quite close, but sadly, the movement of the cygnets – still numbering seven – combined with low light made for terrible photos.
July 25th – A busy day, but the foot improved no end, and a great meeting with an old friend started the weekend off well. I spun out at sunset, as night fell, to Chasewater. Not a bad sunset, and the warmth and light was a joy to behold.
We are so lucky to have this place on our doorsteps.
July 24th – Further on, at Sandhills, a fine crop of maize. Related to sweetcorn, it’s grown mainly for animal feed and seems a bit of a declining crop. That’s sad, really, as it’s fascinating. Already a couple of feet high, this may well grow to 4 feet or more tall, and is lush and green the whole time.
When harvested, a special machine is used that chobbles up the whole crop – seeds, stalks, leaves and cobs – into small pieces, so nothing is really wasted.
This is one of the latest summer crops, one of the last harvested, and will provide this vivid green right into September.
July 24th – One of the sights of summer I’ve so far missed is the crop sprinkler. Near Shenstone today, one solitary spray, watering a field of fine looking potatoes. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can get a full rainbow in their mist, but my efforts to find one today wee fruitless.
If you’re even luckier, it’s near the road, and there’s a delicious game of dare as you try to cycle past without getting sprayed.
Wehen I was a youth, you could hear these – and there would have been large numbers of them – for miles, the light rushing sound and the toc-toc-toc of the rotator, but since crops have switched more to cereals, they’re a rarer sight.
July 23rd – Riding back home this evening, something shiny in the road caught my eye – lying on the edge of Green Lane in Shelfield, the debris from something that really shouldn’t happen. It’s a shattered bicycle sprocket.
This would have been part of the cassette, or rear group of cogs an the back wheel of a cheap bike. It’s been used, as the teeth are worn, and the chrome coating ground through. Decent sprockets are made from high-grade alloys or steel, with some flexibility. Generally, they’re pressed or forged.
This one is low grade steel, and has been made from cast material, making it inflexible and weak. It’s a fair assumption that under load, it’s cracked, and at some point catastrophic failure has occurred, and other debris in the road suggested as much.
Cheap supermarket or discount store bikes are often fitted with this kind of cheap componentry and fail in this kind of manner. Deprending on when it failed, this kind of breakdown could be very serious, and cause the rider to be injured – imagine if this had happened when cycling up a steep hill, like Black Cock Bridge, further on?
If you need a decent bike, and haven’t got much cash, a better option is to look out for a decent secondhand steed. You’d be surprised what you can get from Gumtree or the small ads for the same money.
A very, very cheap bike really isn’t worth the risk or hassle. They’re cheap because they’re made out of cheese, bus tickets and spit…
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 