Tag: alumwell

#365daysofbiking On a green hill

November 29th – I nipped into work for a short while in the morning, and out of necessity, went through Bloxwich and down through Bentley, the sprawling suburb that separates Walsall From Willenhall.

Bentley has a fascinating landmark: A church on a large hill.

Emmanuel Church is a modernist, almost brutalist design by Richard Twentyman in the mid 1950s, and although interesting, I’ve always found it to be a stark, unsettling building. Twentyman was an acclaimed church architect who had also designed pubs and crematoria, so perhaps the stark nature of his work was appropriate.

The church though plays second fiddle to the Bentley Cairn, something I’ve never really stopped to look at before – it’s simply put an extraneous rock with some debate over the actual origin, but it marks the site of three halls which were historically significant. The cairn was restored and enhanced a decade or so ago, and now is a bit of an out of the way curiosity.

The views aren’t bad, but are not quite as good as one would expect, either; interestingly, the green hill with the striking tower atop looks far better from below than the surrounds do from atop it.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2P22T2L
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Nice ‘tache!

September 18th – Scarborough Road in Walsall is still a veritable catropolis, and I see plenty of fine pusses there. Sadly I can’t often photograph them without invading the privacy of the householders in whose gardens or upon whose window cills these fine felines hang out.

This proud puss – with more than a little of the Adolf-cat about him, have to say – was sat in a gateway watching me ride past.

He obliged me by posing for a picture. Clearly a lovely cat – someone loves this one very much.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2mSUe8T
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Frustration:

October 25th – There was a beautiful sunset as I left work. I saw it through the frosted skylights at work; they’d got a lovely pink colour which signified something interesting was happening.

The trouble is with where I work, there aren’t many decent spots to get the sunset from.

Getting on a turn of speed, I managed to make old favourite the Kings Hill cellphone mast, still trading data with the ether against a glorious sky, and over the ruins of James Bridge Copper Works at Alumwell.

It’s always annoying to see a good sunset yet not be somewhere with a decent view of it…

February 2nd – bright and cold, I cycled to work in glorious sunshine, and for a change, pottered through Alumwell’s backstreets. On the corner of Ida Road and Scarborough Road, I’ve just noticed this old, empty building. The Edward Shelley School closed a while back, and the site became part of Walsall College, which later closed it when the institution moved to new premises. I don’t have specific dates, and I’ve only noticed it recently because the thick hedgerows have been cut back. It’s a lovely building, and in very good condition; I’d love to know more about it.

I hope the sudden grounds maintenance is a precursor to reusing this place…

23rd October – Sorry about the quality of the photos today, I did something horrid to the camera settings by accident and didn’t notice. Ho hum.

From the Walsall Canal at Bentley Bridge, the gas holders at Pleck are a landmark. No longer in use, the site they’re on looks likely to be redeveloped and these huge structures dismantled. I’ll miss them, really; they were a landmark for decades for miles around, and particularly from the adjacent motorway. 

But they are so very ugly…

September 1st – It really is coming on autumn now, and it’s getting me down a little. Cycling to work down Scarborough Road in Walsall on a grey Monday, fallen leaves already scatted on the road, it’s hard not to feel sad for the passage of another summer. 

I feel this one has been good; it hasn’t seemed very wet, and although August was a tad grim, the previous months had been great. Sadly I’ve not got out for longer rides this year much at all, with a combination of work and family pressures and a healing, but still troublesome foot injury – but commuting this summer was a real joy.

It’ll be a while until this season gets beautiful, and I’ll be low for a bit yet. Every year, as I get older, this transition seems to be the hardest of the year. I’m wearing a jacket again more and more, soon the scarf and full gloves will be back out of the drawer, and dark evenings will be upon us.

Oh well, down the hatch. It’s still quite green…

April 1st – This journal is three years old today. Three years since Renee Van Baar cajoled me into doing #30daysofbiking. I’ve cycled every day in that three years except two days when I was too ill to ride a bike during about of food poisoning over New Year, 2012. That’s a 1094 days when I’ve been out and taken a picture or recorded a little video of the day’s ride. Thanks for joining me, and for all the likes, shares and retweets, as well as the excellent and knowledgable reader comments..

I have no idea why folk like this thing, but they seem quite fond of it, and I am too, for it’s made me look at something I do in a different way, and it’s also made me look more closely at what’s around me in my day-to-day life.

Cheers to everyone for being stoker on the tandem.

The cat isn’t impressed. He barely opened his eyes to display his utter contempt as I passed through Alumwell on my way back from work. I stopped to let oncoming traffic through, and he peered at me sleepily. I thought he was rather special, so disgusting him even further, I took a quick picture.

March 31st – First light work night of the year, and I found myself working late – and returning home just as it was getting dark. In Walsall it had not long rained, but it was warm and felt still. It wasn’t a great sunset, but it found a crack in the clouds; Alumwell wore it well, as did Birchills.

It is so nice to have the light back. I feel like a weight is lifted from me already.

August 28th – When I returned back that afternoon, it was overcast, and also in Scarborough Road, I noticed this derelict cottage. Fitting well into the Walsall Heritage project, this building has been decaying on the corner of St, John’s Road for years. It’s an interesting building, again with excellent, original chimney pots. I do hope someone can find a use for it once more, before it’s forever lost.

28th August – It was bright and sunny, in complete contrast to the day before. I commuted to Darlaston, which has been far too irregular of late – I love the journey and the place, and miss it when I’m not there. On the way, I travelled down one of my favourite Walsall residential streets – Scarborough Road. Consisting mainly of inter-war council houses, this wide, tree-lined street is a testament to a more socially concerned time. There’s always someone here who waves as you pass; a pensioner stood in their garden, school kids or folk just pottering about their business. I always feel comfortable here.