Tag: 365daysofbiking

August 2nd – Today, on the way home, I was stricken by the P*nct*r* fairy. I get relatively few (touches wood carefully) such incidents – maybe 3 in every 3,000 miles or so – because I use a very tough brand of tyre by Schwalbe – Marathon Plus. On the workhorse bike, it’s 26×1.75 Marathon Plus Tour, and on the others, it 700×28 Marathon Plus. They contain kevlar bands to prevent thorns and spikes cutting through the tire and other defensive measures. They’re quite heavy, and probably don’t roll as well as the strips of liquorice the racing boys use, but if you’re below Cavendish level, you’ll never notice the difference.

Correct inflation will prevent punctures, no matter what the brand of tyre. Always check your pressures.

This bike has hub gears and taking the back wheel out is a pain in the arse, and I swore heartily at it in the centre of town. Cursing my bad luck, I found not a puncture, but the heat had lifted an old patch, deflating the tyre. That’ll teach me to be a tightarse.

August 2nd – Stopped for the lights at Rushall Square, I remembered the odd little building on the opposite corner, at the junction of Daw End Lane. I don’t really know anything about it, but the architecture is lovely. Those are chimneys with serious aesthetic intent. 

Just then, the lights changed and broke my dream…

August 1st – The canal looks odd at the moment. This phenomena occurs two or three times a year, and people often comment mistakenly believing this film to be pollution of some sort. In this case, it’s fibrous matter shed from nearby plants, but can be anything from airborne pollen to seeds. In areas of high boat traffic, it often gives the water a swirly, stripy appearance.

August 1st – A ride out to Burntwood took me along the Anglesey Branch. I’ve been meaning to mention for a while now that if you’re out cycling, watch out in the dry weather for patches of very dry sand. Deposited by heavy rain, when it dries it’s like hitting black ice and will easily have you off the bike. This patch near Wharf Lane, Brownhills isn’t too bad, but some of the patches that gather in road margins and at junctions – particularly when mixed with gravel and other road debris – can be evil. The motorcyclist term for these hazards is ‘marbles’, because that’s exactly how it feels when you ride into one. Take care.

July 31st – Darnford Bridge Farm sits in the middle of a short, unnamed, decaying, unadopted cut through between the A51 Tamworth Road and Darnford Lane, just on the eastern side of Lichfield. Wedged in between a golf driving range and Lichfield Rugby Club, the farm has been derelict and abandoned for some time. I have no idea who owns it, or why it lies decaying as it so sadly does. The fabric of the farmhouse and building still seems quite good, and efforts have been taken to ensure security. Wonder what the story is?

July 31st – Harvesting of the oilseed rape crop was nearly complete at Home Farm, Sandhills, when I passed by on the canal. I watched for a while as the hugely sophisticated John Deere combine harvester neatly cut and threshed out the seed from the husks and chaff of the plant, spitting out the chopped remnants to be ploughed back into the soil. This is a very efficient machine and they are very expensive to buy. Note that the familiar comb wheel at the front isn’t used during the cutting of this crop, it’s neatly severed by a cutter at the front and falls onto a screw mechanism behind.  A work of engineering genius.

July 30th – A 65 mile journey around the canals of Birmingham and the Black Country. Heading from Goscote, to Wolverhampton, down to Stourbridge, up to Netherton and through the tunnel to Oldbury, Birmingham, Great Barr and home. Only a couple of miles wasn’t on the canal. Check out my route over on the main blog. There’s also some video of my experience traversing the Netherton Tunnel.

July 29th – I note that the former Superalloys site in Brownhills is now undergoing construction work to build expansion premises for Castings PLC. This is welcome news for Brownhills, as this is the last major manufacturer in the area. I can’t help wondering, though, that as the site of an old chemical works (hence the local name ‘The Chemical’) and then a scrapyard, what must lie beneath the soil. This land has been vacant for three decades, and it’s good to see it brought into use. Lets hope the construction crews are paying attention while they’re digging.

29th July – Didn’t have time to go far today, so took a late afternoon run up to Chasewater (more of which on the main blog over the weekend) via the canal. Noticed on the way that there’s a new landing stage at the back of Millfield School. Anyone know why it’s there? Not noticed it before, and seems like a large investment by somebody just to moor a narrowboat?

July 28th – It was the kind of hazy, warm, mellow evening one dreams about. Heat haze shimmered off the roads, and as I cruised down Shire Oak Hill into Brownhills I took in the the view, and reflected on how much it had changed since I was a lad. There used to be flats and maisonettes here, almost as far as the eye could see. It was never as green as it is now. We don’t realise just how verdant Brownhills is now, it’s gorgeous.