July 3rd – Summer in the Lichfield Street and Hatherton Road areas of Walsall Town Centre – the ‘civic’ quarter – is a joy. The streets here are tree-lined and green, and form a beautiful canopy over the busy roads below. From some aspects you could almost be in Cheltenham.
I keep banging on about this, but it’s very true: Walsall is surprisingly green, and most people don’t seem to notice.
July 2nd – The honeysuckle at the roadside by the Black Cock Bridge I pointed out a couple of weeks ago is now breaking into full bloom. It smells heavenly, and looks gorgeous in that dishevelled, almost threadbare way that only honeysuckle can. Despite the steady rain and grey skies, bees were busy in the flowers, and the bush hummed busily.
July 2nd – Today, summer faded to grey and the rain returned. I cycled home in steady rain, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Coming down Green Lane, Walsall Wood, I noticed what had been a lush field of beans last year had been left fallow this year. There is is immense pile of manure at one end of the field, and wonder if the growing of legumes and subsequent fallow period are part of a natural ground management system.
No such concern in the water meadow the other side of the road; untroubled by livestock other than deer, the grass there is lush, colourful and a couple of feet high now. It’s absolutely beautiful.
July 1st – There was a huge fire at a plastics recycling plant in Smethwick, on the Birmingham/Black Country border, caused by a Chinese lantern. As I went to work that morning, smokes, although several miles away, hung over Birmingham City Centre. From Tyseley, even further away, it had echoes of great disasters.
A terrible thing, and an environmental disaster. It really is time we banned the sale of these idiotic items.
June 30th – Up on Barr Beacon for the Bands on the Beacon gig, it was a bit grey when I left. The view from up there is still remarkable, tough, and presents a great panorama not just of Walsall, but most of the Black Country. great to see St. Matthews still so prominent in a landscape of modern high-rise buildings, and also pleasing to note the greenery in a formerly very urban environment.
June 29th – At Chasewater, I stopped to study something I’d not taken much notice of before – a microwave transceiver antenna between the boating lake and Innovation Centre. Painted brown to blend in, It’s pointing towards Pye Green, but could be anywhere in-between, too, like a telephone exchange or similar. On top is a standard ‘drum’ microwave antenna, with a transceiver amplifier halfway up. The nameplate on that suggests an 8MB link, and is almost certainly a broadband connection for the conference facilities, as I suspect the Innovation Centre was originally too far off the beaten track for a decent phone connection. Together with mobile phone network data backhaul, this is the only widespread use of such links still in use.
June 29th – Out for an evening spin after a traumatic day, I headed to Chasewater. I was pleased to finally capture a grainy, long-range shot of one of the grey wagtails inhabiting the rushes and back gardens near Anchor Bridge; I’ve seen them numerous times this year, but never got a pic. I’ve never seen them here before. The rabbits are still breeding like, well, rabbits at the Lichfield Road bridge, and near Newton, overlooking the A5, the canal side meadow had been mown for hay, which was drying, gently in the warm summer air.
The perfect antidote to a stressful day.
June 28th – I don’t often ride into Stonnall from Cartersfield Lane, but having hopped off the canal at Warrenhouse, then over Barracks Lane, it seemed a reasonable route. It’s actually a lovely lane, and on the outskirts of the village, I spotted this row of interesting old houses. Even in the rain, I loved the colours, textures, gables, and above all, the great chimneys!
You can know a place all your life, and still spot something fresh. That’s why cycling – even on wet, grey days – can be a joy.
June 28th – A wonderful spin out in warm rain to Chasewater, then back to Stonnall. Two firsts for the summer in the same ride – first marsh orchid, opposite The Chemical, on the Canal towpath, and the first foxgloves have suddenly bolted into bloom. The raindrops glistened on them like jewels.
It’s all about purple at the moment.
June 27th – I came home in a rainstorm. It was drizzling steadily as I left Leicester, and it was steady, too, at Nuneaton. By Lichfield Trent Vally, is was heavy, and driven by an evil wind. I battled home without waterproof trousers, I was soaked, the traffic was horrid. Summer this year seems elusive…
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