Tag: Black Cock

#365daysofbiking Bridge to my heart

#365daysifbiking Bridge to my heart:

December 29th – Still busy doing other things (bike maintenance, mainly) I had to nip up Walsall Wood to Screwfix in that magical interregnum between the sun setting and it not being fully dark.

Bullings Heath on the flank of thelack Cock Bridge looked superb, as did Hollanders Bridge.

I love the quiet, sleepy feel of the days between Christmas and new year; like the world world is snoozing off its lunch.

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#365daysofbiking That sinking feeling:

December 13th – Struggling up the Black Cock Bridge due to tiredness and another late night at work, my phone rang and I stopped to answer by the junction with Hall Lane.

This little, discrete hamlet was years ago called Bullings Heath and sitting in the lee of the bridge flank, there are many legends about the subsidence here caused by minewovrkings below.

Whilst there was sinking, it wasn’t a bad as purported, and these things generally never are, but legends persist and they suggest the houses on the left were once level with the canal.

Tonight, Bullings Heath nestled in the darkness, and was keeping it’s secrets to itself, and looking for all the world like a somnambulant, rural hamlet.

A historic conundrum.

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#365daysofbiking Ooh matron:

November 14th – Coming home from work, late. Diving off the main drag onto the canal at the unfortunately named Black Cock Bridge, which takes it’s name from the adjacent pub, The Black Cock.

Subject of schoolboy humour for over a century or more, this steep, precarious canal crossing probably hasn’t got many years left in it’s current form. decidedly too steep for many vehicles, weak and narrow, it’ll be interesting to see what happens to The Black Cock Bridge in the long run, as the geography has changed so much since the bridge was built that and undebridge with an aqueduct would no be more suitable.

In the mean time, at night, it’s wonderfully photogenic.

August 23rd – On the way home, a real treat to compensate for the persistentt wind and rain – a vivd, beautiful rainbow.

I caught it over Shelfield and Jockey Meadows. It was perfect, and I revelled in it for 15 minutes, steadily getting wet.

A beautiful thing I was lucky to witness.

August 21st – My late commute homeward bound collided with the start of the golden hour, a sign that the nights are closing in now, although I was unusually late, so no need to panic yet, I guess. 

Passing the trees on the edge of Grange Farm near the Black Cock Bridge, the golden light fell through the edge land  and was magical.

After a dull, damp, uninspiring start to the day, a welcome dose of sunshine.

June 7th – Sad to note that the honeysuckle growing on the western rail of the Black Cock Bridge has again this year been hedge cut in it’s prime. I don’t know why anyone would do that, and it makes me sad – but it’s recovered well, and the woodbine still tumbles in a beautiful tangle into the meadow below the embankment.

A delight for bugs and bees. Clearly, someone doesn’t like it as much as I do.

February 27th – The coldest early evening commute I’ve known for a long time, I battled a vile headwind and sporadic black ice and made my way home carefully.

My ice tyres worked well, and the roads – like the Green Lane here at the Black Cock Bridge – have been very well gritted. But pavements, backroads and car parks were deadly and I made careful, slow progress.

It’ll be interesting to see how bad this gets.