365daysofbiking – Page 647 – BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

June 6th – Heading into Darlaston on the canal near Bentley Bridge, I saw these guys (there are actually two on the boat) doing sterling work fishing litter and junk from the waterway. People don’t realise there are regular rubbish sweeps like this going on, and the guys doing this work – hard, messy, often rather unpleasant – deserve much more credit than they get.

The whole waterway from Walsall to Darlaston is currently alive and dense with water lillies. This is clearly due to careful care from guys like these. Gentlemen, I salute you.

June 5th – After a spin round Elford and back to Alrewas, the rain started on the way back through Fradley. Crossing the canal at Gorse Lane, the day was grey and chilly, but at least the wind was behind me. What happened to the heatwave?

June 5th – While wandering through Lichfield on a grey afternoon, I spotted these lovely cows gracing the shopfront of the former Savers store in Dam Street. I guess that, judging by the subject and various hooks on the frontage, that this was one a butcher. Nice that the cows were retained.

June 4th – heading home up the A461 Lichfield Road, fully laden with shopping, the wind was behind me and there was a gorgeous mackerel sky. It is said that ’…makerel sky, twenty-four houurs dry’, but also that ’…mackerel sky, never long wet, never long dry’.

I stopped to photograph it near Lane’s Farm at the foot of Shire Oak Hill. It really was stunning.

June 4th – Sadly, a day full of other commitments and not enough time for much cycling. I did manage an hour out to Lichfield for some shopping, though. I headed up the canal to Lichfield Road, and in the process noticed that the devil wind was back, this time blowing from the east. The day was warm and clear, however, and the view to Hammerwich from the canal near Sandfields was as gorgeous as ever.

If you look closely, you can see the Hammerwich Windmill, Hammerwich Church and Lichfield Cathedral.

June 3rd – This is near the centre of Redditch. No shit. Buried on the Arrow Valley cycle route is this small hamlet of old houses. Encircled within a cocoon of greenery, they are bounded by the great, terrible sprawl of the new town. A very peculiar place with some surprising corners.

June 3rd – The day was birthed in light, banded shrouds of very shallow mist. The temptation to stop and just take pictures for hours wasn’t compatible with my need to get to work. I did manage a few atmospheric shots around Mill Green, however, which are posted over on my main blog.

Mornings like this are what cycling is about.

June 2nd – I noticed while wandering down to the train that this patch of forgotten weeds beside the access ramp at Four Oaks Station was, in fact, a thriving crop of oilseed rape. I can’t imagine anyone actually planting it, so I wonder how it got here – there aren’t any fields for some distance, and the seeds don’t blow on the wind. Was this an act of guerilla cultivation?

Whatever, it’s a cheerful sight and smells lovely.

June 2nd – Ah, it must be bin day in Four Oaks again. Remember, kids, this is one of the poshest, most opulent and wealthy bits of Birmingham, yet the footpaths are impassible to pushchairs and wheelchairs, refuse torn from bags by animals is scattered on the verges, and much of it doesn’t smell too good.

Birmingham is the second largest local authority in the country, and has a refuse collection system of the type one would find in a developing country. A disgrace, no more, no less.

June 2nd – engineers continue to replace the overhead lines across south Staffordshire. At Forge Lane, Little Aston, they were preparing to fit the pulleys I’d seen last week at Stockfields. This work fascinates and astounds me, and it’s even more mysterious to me this time, for I’ve yet to see a team actually at work. Stuff just changes between journeys, like a hidden army is at work.