Tag: A5

#365daysofbiking Nestling in green nowhere

June 15th – With things online getting on top of me, I headed out at lunchtime on a much better day to find cake, sunshine and solace.

The sunshine was patchy, but lovely and I went to my old haunt of Hints Ford to see it after the rains. Green and peaceful as ever, there was much to see: I was particularly fascinated by the honeybee nest in the tree there.

Hints is as gorgeous as it ever was and I’ve missed it – I must try to get here more often.

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#365daysofbiking Mind your head

April 7th – I came back up Albutts Road and down the old rail line to the old cement works bridge at The Slough. On the part of the track between Engine Lane and the A5 which isn’t an official cycleway, there are several fallen trees making riding fun, necessitating an array of ducking, weaving and bunny hops.

Great stuff.

The fallen wood also may have the added benefit of chinning some pillock on a quad or scrambler who illegally terrorise these woods scaring wildlife and walkers.

We live in hope.

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January 2nd – Still feeling my way. In a late evening bible after the rain cleared I pottered up the Black Path and along through Newtown to see how the camera reacted to the low light in the first instance and the streetlights in the other.

The shots seem a bit dark. I’m wondering if I’ve broken an exposure setting since Monday, which is a huge possibility.

They aren’t bad pictures, though for handheld on a dark night.

Puzzling.

July 9th – I shot down the A5 to Tamworth, heading for Atherstone, because I was late. Just at Streetway, near Weeford, a field of stunning light purple flowers I mistakenly thought were flax. They were absolutely gorgeous.

Alive with bees, I counted 15 species. The flowers themselves seemed to be a lavender-white with purple stamens, and I’ve not seen the like before.

It turns out the crop is phacelia or purple tansy, a crop that’s grown to rest the land and attract pollinators between productive years.

You can find out more about phacelia here. A remarkable and beautiful thing.

February 5th – Long exposure experiments I’m not entirely happy with, taken from the A5 bypass flyover at Jerry’s Lane, Packington and the Alan Woollatt bridge over the A38 at Thickbroom.

For some reason these aren’t as sharp as my earlier experiments and I’m not sure why. The wiggle of the road as it winds up Rock Hill was also not as evident as I would have hoped.

I need more practice, and maybe to read a manual or two…

January 15th – Intrigued to note that the former Terrace restaurant on the Watling Street at Newtown, in the hinterlands of Brownhills seems finally to be undergoing renovation of some kind.

Following it’s closure 18 months ago, this once very popular venue has been plagued by vandalism, metal thieves and arson, and rumours in the spring of it being host to a new buffet restaurant seemed to come to nothing.

Taking a nose today, new fencing is going up, and the fittings seem to be being cleared out. A licensing application for alcohol dating from July is on a nearby lamp-post.

I hope something does open at this landmark building. Brownhills could do with a decent restaurant.

October 2nd – Passing through Weeford, on the old A5 as the sun set, a tortoiseshell sentry kept watch, gazing up the old main road and enjoying the peace.

A few short years ago this road would have been very busy, and puss would have been in some peril, but today, since the advent of the A5 bypass, few vehicles come this way and puss can scan the horizon in peace.

Peace that is, except for irritating cyclists, insisting on taking pictures…

December 18th – a half day, and chance to nip on an errand to Whittington. The weather was horrid – drizzly, hot and very windy, so I wound my way through the backlanes of Shenstone and Weeford. Heading up Jerrys Lane, i stopped to look east over the A5 bypass to Tamworth. One of the few decent road projects to spin off the M6 Toll, it has cured the traffic issues on the nearby old A5 and A51 beautifully. 

I rode on this just before it opened, but never took any photos. I wished I had – the views from the brow of Rock Hill over Tamworth are extraordinary, particularly at night. But this road is more of a motorway than the M6 Toll, and I wouldn’t dream of cycling it now.

August 26th – Even on a grim, grey day, Wall still has a fascination. Riding in via the track that constitutes Back Lane was a challenge, as it’s very overgrown, but such a delight. The fields here have been fully harvested, and look barren dressed in their underwear of stubble.

The village itself is fascinating. The half-cream, half-barebrik place with the odd gables? That was once a pub called the Seven Stars, and is now a lovely looking home.

Once, it stood on the main A5 between Brownhills and Tamworth, but the road was diverted on to a new dual carriageway half a mile to the south, and peace is restored.

A lovely little village.

May 5th – Up on the A5 at Newtown, Brownhills, things aren’t looking so good. The Terrace restaurant, once a popular establishment, closed just after Christmas and is currently vacant and up for sale, with no sign yet of a buyer – sad really. Back in it’s heyday the place was busy every night.

Meanwhile, almost opposite the Chase Inn is still up for sale. Still open and trading, it’s nonetheless been on the market for ages.

I know society and it’s drinking and socialising habits have changed, but it’s still terribly sad to see these places lost.

I hope they both find new ownership and prosper, I really do…