Tag: 365daysofbiking

July 17th – Working late again. I returned from Walsall, crawling wearily up through Rushall and Shelfield towards Brownhills in the last of the daylight. At the Black Cock Bridge, I hopped on the canal and headed homewards. It was grey, but oddly enough, not raining. The air felt warm, and the evening seemed oddly close. I stopped on the bend where the old Walsall Wood Colliery basins would have been. The water was clear, apart from lilies and the odd patch of algae. Everywhere was green, verdant and beautiful. Summer is sort of happening while we’re not watching. One thing I will say for it; it’s been a great year for foliage.

The area clumps bothered me; I don’t know if they’re blue-green or some other variety and the net isn’t much help. Probably best to watch your dog if they’re fond of a dip. If it is blue-green, it can be quite toxic to hounds.

July 16th – Another wet day, another late, miserable commute home through the lanes of Stonnall and Lynn. I surely must have done, but I don’t think I’ve ever known a summer like this. Everything is saturated, even my goodwill. The bike is suffering, I’m suffering. Yet we both carry on; floods, muck and wind.

When summer does come it’s going to be bloody wonderful.

July 15th – It was, on occasion, a bright sunny day. But it wasn’t warm, and when the sun went in, the chill was evil. I was cycling in the evening, and my journey to Yoxall, Barton and the Trent and Mersey river section at Alrewas was beautiful, but challenging. I was in shorts and cold; my energy low, and I bonked. (That’s where you need food, and you suddenly flatline. Runners call it ‘Hitting the wall’). Still, the countryside was as gorgeous as ever, and it reminds me to keep grazing and stock up with snacks before I leave for a long ride.

July 15th – Ducks are not fussy. Mallards will mate with anything that cooperates, and quite a lot of things that don’t. Unusual union has clearly resulted in this peculiar fellow, who seems to be, for the most part, mallard, but there seems to be runner duck and tufted in there somewhere. He lives on the boating lake at Chasewater, and I caught him on an evening ride out to Yoxall and Barton. Have to say, the levels are raising impressively now.

Nice barnet…

July 14th – I returned home via the Goscote Valley cycle route, Pelsall, and Ryders Mere. Ryders Mere really is gorgeous right now, a lovely pool surrounded by the most delightful meadows. Wildflowers are here in abundance, everything from orchids to clovers, vetches to hawkweeds. It’s a thoroughly delightful place. 

Now I’ve seen it from afar, I’m even less liking the paint job on Humphries House. Oh dear.

July 14th – A grey afternoon in Walsall. I realised at 1:30 that I had a package to collect from the central Post Office in Walsall. Taking a chance, I decided to make a dash for it. Grabbing the bike, I left at 1:35 (the office shuts at 2pm) – I was locking my bike up outside the sorting office a 1:50pm. That’s why I ride a bike.

Parcel collected, I decided to check out a new coffee shop I was hearing good things about – @coffeecomforts, in the old Tandy store underneath Tameway Tower on Bridge Street. Sadly, at 2:10pm on a Saturday, it was shut. So much for that, then…

I took mediocre tea in Costas, then explored the backstreets for a while, before heading through Caldmore, to pick up indian snacks for the week ahead at my favourite sweet centre, Harguns. On the way, I noted that the old Guildhall Mews, in Goodall Street, was quietly decaying. I remember when this was open as little shops, and you ould walk right in, around 1990. There was a CD audio specialist at the back called CDX. I don’t know how long it’s been shut, but the plant life is having a ball.

The BOAK building is still cowering, trying to look inconspicuous to the municipal arsonists, who recently torched another derelict building nearby. It’s a handsome place, and something really should be done with it. 

My eye was also caught by the White Hart, on Caldmore Green; one of the oldest buildings in Walsall I believe, and a shining example of what can be done to preserve heritage. Still can’t warm to the building though, knowing they found a petrified severed arm in the chimney. Ugh. It’s in Walsall Museum, and dubbed ‘The Hand of Glory’.

July 13th – This is just a wee reminder about how poor rubbish services are for some folk. The people here, between Four Oaks and Little Aston, live in one of the poshest, most exclusive areas of Birmingham. Sadly, refuse services in the Second City are still third rate; no wheelie bins here. For whatever reason, these bags of waste – recycling and general trash – have been missed and will lie here for another week.

Next time you hear someone grumbling about Walsall or Lichfield’s bin service, reflect on this.

July 12th – there seem to be a lot of traffic surveys going on in South Staffordshire at the moment. Lots of back lanes seem to have the familiar rubber pickups nailed to the asphalt, just like this one in Gravelley Lane, between Shenstone and Stonnall. These devices count vehicles, and many modern ones take a punt at guessing what yore driving. The black cables are actually flexible, soft pipes, sealed at one end (usually by tying it in a simple knot). Any vehicle tyre running over the pipe causes the air pressure to rise within, and activates a pressure switch in the counter. By analysing the number of pulses and distance apart in time, many units can now tell the difference between HGV’s passing and normal cars. This device is probably installed for a routine traffic survey, and will soon be moved to a different spot. Surveys like this are regularly taken by councils.