Tag: Barton

#365daysofbiking Animal magic

July 21st – It hadn’t promised to be a ride day at all, so I didn’t have high hopes for the ride at all. It was fantastic, if weary, as it happened, and it was all about the animals I met on the way.

From the two wee dogs in chokey and the ferrets at the Barton gate Steam Fair to the herd of curious cows at Dunstall, animals stole the show all through the ride.

Most interesting was the long range shot of the red deer at Dunstall Park – a farmed herd – the majestic stag of which turned out to be providing perch for two magpies, presumably assisting his grooming.

I’ve seen small birds do that with pigs before, but never magpies on deer…

A great ride. And oh, those coos!

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#365daysofbiking So glad I made it

July 21st – it really wasn’t my weekend and I was called out to a work emergency in the early hours. I had hoped to get to Barton Gate Steam Rally near Burton, but with a 3pm work finish it looked unlikely.

Due to a lift from my partner and some very sharp thinking on her part, I was deposited bike and all in Kings Bromley and managed to catch the atmosphere for the last hour, which was wonderful. I then enjoyed a lovely summer evening ride.

The help of others is so wonderful and I’m very grateful. I was tired, but needed some headspace and the joy of daft machinery.

I have no idea why the machine on the trailer with crawler tracks is, but I want one.

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#365daysofbiking Sunshine after rain

June 14th – Feeling unwell but needing to go out, I slipped out late afternoon to pick something up from a friend in Barton. The heavens opened on my as I left and the rain was torrential. By the time I got to Lichfield I was soaked – I’d endured rain, hail, thunder and lightning…

But, at Lichfield, the weather cleared, the sun came out and I gently dried in the soft sun. It was actually gorgeous.

Cake, coffee, a completed mission at Barton, I enjoyed a spin back and the spectacle of flooded roads and swollen rivers.

A better than expected ride.

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July 21st – After rising the Barton Gate steam rally, I pottered over to Dunstall and road the track from Barton Gate up to the village. A lovely run, it gives the very best views of a really pretty, little known village on the hill above Barton under Needwood.

A lovely, mellow Saturday evening was really enjoyable – not pushing it, just ambling and stopping to smell the flowers. 

A great restorative for mind and spirit.

April 17th – When I set out, I wasn’t feeling the love; the afternoon was grey and cold and I really couldn’t detect a good ride in me. I was heading for cake at Fradley in an attempt to lift my mood. It worked.

The day didn’t warm any, but it became sunny, and I found myself pulled along the cycleway through Barton and Dunstall, crossing Sinai Park to Burton.

Burton was gorgeous – I forgot the Ferrybridge and extraordinary River Gardens; this is a very beautiful place. 

Seeing the commercial deer herd at Dunstall was nice, and the oilseed rape and avenue at Sbobnall made me feel so much better.

Returning in the gathering dusk, I was heartened to see work had been going on at the long vacant Drakelow power station site and it’s now home to a 5MW solar power farm, feeding straight into the national grid.

A positive, beautiful ride I wasn’t expecting.

July 31st – A ride on an uninspiring, overcast day actually threw up some wonderful sights, which just goes to show how you can never tell. At Newtown, I spotted the black cat ambitiously stalking mallards from the long grass… And on the rugby pitch at Chasetown, a mature female red deer appeared to be loafing with two generations of her offspring. Unconcerned at my presence, they just carried on snoozing and browsing the grass.

I headed to Barton Marina via Yoxall for disappointing tea and cake, but was pleased to note the Walsall boat and found face; it’s been 7 years since I last tried the place as a cycling stop, and to me, it hasn’t improved – soulless and out of place. 

The rabbit was spotted on the grass on the approach to the marina, and the coo south of nearby Walton.

A mixed bag of a ride, but a decent 45 miles and some great sights. 

July 22nd – A fast, enjoyable 50 mile ride on an afternoon bunked off work saw me calling at Barton and then Rosliston for excellent carrot cake on a hot, sunny day. On the way, I took in a little of the canal near Barton Marina, and spotted the benchmark in the bridge just by Barton Turn. I think that’s the first I’ve ever seen highlighted with paint and it also seems rather high.

It must be genuine, but I sense a story here. Any ideas?

August 31st – It was a gorgeous afternoon – sunny, warm, with only a light wind. Sadly, I missed most of it due to being unwell. I finally left for a gentle spin at 5pm, and spun up the canal to Aldridge, then over Lazy Hill and back up the Chester Road over Shire Oak into Brownhills.

I had no energy at all. But it was a lovely ride, and I stopped to photograph the view at the top of Lazy Hill and at Shire Oak. I’m astounded how far you can see from Shire Oak on a clear day – those cooling towers are the derelict ones at Willington; inbetween, Burton and the huge Argos warehouse at Barton.

Note also the wind turbine at Whittington Hurst, seemingly very close in the shot of prospect house.

A great, short ride.

May 17th – I think this is a first for 365 days of biking. This is a photo of something that is no longer here.

This is a cellphone mast, located just off the A38 at Efflinch, near Barton under Needwood. Up until recently, there was a another transmission mast here with a very specific function: it broadcast a non-directional radio beacon for aircraft. The transmission was continual, incessant and could be picked up locally at the very end of the longwave band on a normal transistor radio; it broadcast the morse tones for the letters ‘LIC’ (for Lichfield) continuously in a mysterious, musical tone. I was transfixed by it as a kid, because I had no idea what it was.

If anyone back then had shown me a numbers station, my wee head would have exploded.

The station stopped transmitting in 2010 when the beacon was decommissioned, but I think the mast has only recently gone – I used to watch for it coming home along the A38. Cycling this way, often at dusk, I knew that from here, I was only an hour away from home.

When the relentless, inscrutable morse died, so did a tiny bit of my childhood.

Find out about the end of the LIC NDB beacon here.

July 13th – It was incredibly hot, and I was tired. But at 4pm I found the energy from somewhere and headed out. I was only supposed to be going to Chasewater – but after a restorative ice cream, I found the going easy and powerful, so I headed up through Chorley and Longdon Green, to Yoxall and Barton. From Barton I took the backlanes and tracks to Wychnor, where I hopped on the canal, and rode the river section of the Trent & Mersey to Fradley, then back home through Lichfield.

It was hot, but a lovely, fast ride through gently ripening countryside. This is the summer I’ve been hoping for.