bad weather – Page 9 – BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

#365daysofbiking Slight return

December 18th – It had been a long day – into Brum early, mechanical problems with the bike and then back to Darlaston. It was wet but quite warm when I returned to Brownhills: The state of the towpath between Catshill Junction and Brownhills is now so flooded I usually hop back on the High Street at Anchor Bridge.

The pub always looks so welcoming in the dark.

This is always a long, hard week, but the weather and lack of light really are getting to me.

Come on Christmas, I need a break.

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#365daysofbiking Deluge

December 17th – By the time I left work and returned to Telford Station, it was raining again.

Not light rain, either, but the torrential kind I’d been caught in the previous Sunday.

At least I had waterproofs this time.

The colours of the rain and dusk were captivating on the cycleway down to the station from Priorslee.

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#365daysofbiking Frosty reception

December 17th – In Telford – it was a frosty morning after a rainy evening and there was no shortage of ice on the new footbridge. With every turn in the weather, this ludicrous civil engineering fudge looks more and more shambolic.

In many places the standing water from the night before had frozen on the bridge deck and steps – either due to lack of gritting or the grit washing away before having chance to act.

Someone really should be answering public safety questions about this farce, but I doubt they ever will.

Still, the frost on the local byways was pretty. But by heck, it seemed cold.

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#365daysofbiking Just desserts

December 15th – The day had been OK, so far. I’d been to a cChristmas Fair at the Rugby Club, then dropped into the craft centre north of Lichfield – Curborough – for Christmas shopping. While I was there, the heavens opened, and I hadn’t got my waterproof trousers.

I partook of a nice pud at the cafe and waited for the deluge to abate. It didn’t.

Making a dash for home, I got soaked. But I still had time to take a couple of shots of Stowe Pool. Funny now to think that in 2006 I took a sunset view of that church from this point at about this time of year that really kickstarted my desire to document my rides and what I saw.

At this precise point, I couldn’t have felt less like riding a bike.

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#365daysofbiking Tinseltown in the rain

December 11th – A fowl night again found me returning home in heavy rain. Really heavy, almost torrential.

Photography was near impossible, so I grabbed a couple of flying shots of the downtown Christmas lights of Brownhills with my phone.

I actually. like these, they’re atmospheric and exactly how the night felt.

I really will need treatment for webbed toes soon, I feel.

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#365daysofbiking Grime scene

December 9th – The increasingly poor weather really is taking it’s toll on the bikes. I’m not a fanatical bike cleaner, and prefer my steeds to show the dull patina of constant use: but right now it’s less of a film and more inches of crud picked up from the muddy trails and roads.

I’m working on the basis that this layer of detritus will prevent further ingress, but to be honest I’m not hopeful.

Next spring I’m going to have to do a lot of work on these bikes.

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#365daysofbiking Conical

November 30th – Chasetown has Christmas lights for the first time in a long while too, which is nice to see. Oddly though, their two Christmas trees (which appear identical, which must be a clue to their origin) are artificial, conical arrangements covered in some kind of canvas.

There’s one at usual near the former police station, and one outside the new offices of Chasetown Civil Engineering.

They’re interesting things, not entirely sure I like them but they are very striking.

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#365daysofbiking Fade from grey

November 30th – A misty, murky day definitely not conducive to good photography. It had been very frosty, but by the time I had change to get out with time on my hands, the frost had gone.

I had business in Burntwood and went via Chasewater and Brownhills Common – the dam looked really eerie in the fog. Spiderwebs on gorse caught water droplets and became precious.

A cold, grey but starkly beautiful day.

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#365daysofbiking All kinds of wrong

November 28th – For once, the trains weren’t too bad. It was, of course, still a rain-sodden day and I was tired and wanting to be home.

I stood and waited and took three shots of what I could see: The exaggerated perspective and vanishing points – the people, crowding tensely but oddly patient – the train, engorging with people wanting to be home like me – the sleek, dripping machines waiting peacefully beneath their feast of wire.

New Street Station is still, and probably always be a conundrum to me. I both adore it, and loathe it. It’s like a bad mother to me: It may be all kinds of wrong, but it’s still mine.

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