Tag: 365daysofbiking

#365daysofbiking Consolation

December 8th – I went out early to catch a festive market at Chasewater.

By 11 O’clock it was called off, apparently due to the wind. I found the situation baffling, if I’m honest: I got there as everything was being packed away. I’d actually been looking forward to the event, and felt deflated.

Still, nothing to be done and it was actually quite a nice day, so I carried on for a spin, bumping into this group of ladies on my way to the cafe, which was a decent consolation if I’m honest.

Always nice to see the deer about.

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#365daysofbiking The villages of the evening

December 7th – Christmas is starting to ramp up now and I find myself increasingly on errands and trips to sort things out for the upcoming holiday, and so it was this evening when I had to visit Shenstone, to collect some stuff I’d ordered and check out a present in the huge, soulless garden centre there.

Shenstone and the lanes between there and home were gorgeous in the night, same as they ever were: From the welcoming dignity of the pubs to the beauty of the old workhouse. And then, the gothic horror of the church, which I’m still not used to seeing without it’s massive, stately yew.

It was nice to be in these lanes on a relatively dry night for a change. They made a pleasant contrast to the consumer hell of a garden centre that seemed to specialise in everything except … gardening.

Am I turning into The Grinch? I think I might be.

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#365daysofbiking Festive colour

December 6th – Every year I swear will be my last visit to Birmingham’s annual Frankfurt German Market. After catching an almost identical one in Leeds in 2018, I’d concluded that these things were just a concoction for tourists selling all the same tat every year.

However, whenever I’m presented with the reality – the smell of food, the noise, the colour and spectacle – my heart melts and I really enjoy a potter around. I’ve found the best time to go is at night, midweek: Busy enough to be fun, calm enough to be tolerable.

I never buy much – save for the obligatory meaty and sweet treats – but I enjoy the frenetic beauty of it.

I must say, the people who lit it and New Street this year did a cracking job.

Merry Christmas Birmingham!

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#365daysofbiking – Wooden heart

December 6th – I had to pop to the Touchwood Centre in Solihull, a place I’ve only been once or twice: In fact, I rarely visit the town at all.

I left in the afternoon, and as usual of late, the trains were messed up and the journey was horrible. But Solihull had some interesting views in the early evening gloom.

That underpass was stunning in the dark.

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#365daysofbiking Late again


December 5th – Working late saw me get back to Brownhills in a very quiet hour; there was little traffic and as I pulled onto the pavement at Anchor Bridge the only real noise was of wind in the trees and dead gass on the canal bank.

I hate December and the run up to Christmas: The nights are darkest, the work is hard in preparation for a new year and everything seems grey and lifeless.

At least one of my favourite views is fairy changeless, the canal from Anchor Bridge.

Roll on Christmas!

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#365daysofbiking Ignorance is bliss

December 4th – Pottering to work on a grey day, I spotted a particularly disdainful puss near Walsall Wood who certainly wasn’t going to give the likes of me the time of day, no matter how I called it.

You haven’t been properly ignored in life until you’ve been ignored by a domestic British cat.

Oh well, looks like a nice puss… From behind.

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#365daysofbiking Sky gazing


December 3rd – Returning to Walsall a little earlier than usual from Birmingham, I was just in time to see a most beautiful sunset descend upon Walsall – but not in the best place to catch it on camera. Standing on the steps at the station side entrance. the view down Station Street and back over the empty station platforms was much better than I expected.

I’m glad I caught this one – but by heck, it felt cold…

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#365daysofbiking Accuracy is important

December 2nd – Waiting for a train at the unexpectedly infrequently-served Oakengates station in Telford, an example of why UK railways fascinate me.

That’s MJ 353 (not 352 or 354) and it’s 723 yarns ahead. Not 722, or 724, just to make that clear.

Why 723? Fabulous.

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#365daysofbiking The kindness of strangers

December 2nd – Again on the far side of Hortonwood in Telford, I was returning from a meeting using the Silkin Way national Cycle Route 81 that runs along the A518 between Trench and the massive industrial park I had visited.

On a cycleway that I would have thought might have been almost forgotten, and some way from houses or nearby factories, a makeshift bird table at the side of the track, apropos of nothing.

On it, a selection of fruit and seed – all fresh with a nearby audience I’d disturbed of birds and squirrels.

Someone tends this lovingly, regularly. It’s well kept. It’s a thing of dedication, love and kindness for them.

Stranger, I have no idea who you might be, but for looking after a small corner of your world so beautifully, I wish you the very best my friend.

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#365daysofbiking On the western skyline

December 1st – Looping around and back up Walsall Wood, I became aware I was in the midst of a gorgeous sunset. Chasewater would have been my place of choice to catch such a vivid one, but sadly I wouldn’t make it in time, so I headed up Shire Oak Hill.

The view downhill to Walsall Wood, Walsall and the wider Black Country is always stunning, and it’s a good while since I saw it in a good sunset. It was worth it.

This is one of the greatest local views and very much unappreciated.

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