Tag: bridge

#365daysofbiking Wetter than an otter’s pocket

December 15th – The weather remained grim, and so did my mood. I had a lot to do still, with work end-of-year paperwork still bogging me down and medical tests scheduled for early in the coming week. My stomach was not good, and the rain relentless.

At Wharf Lane, pausing under the bridge for a rest and listening to the music of the rain on the water was almost therapeutic, and sustained me; at least until it started to get into my shoes.

The return home was unpleasant.

That Christmas spirit continues to be elusive.

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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 Decent exposure:

December 9th – As darkness fell, I pulled myself up and decided to find a decent photo opportunity or two. The pedestrian bridges over the Chasetown Bypass are always good, and the Canon G1X really comes into it’s own on the long exposure work.

The crescent moon over Catshill doesn’t bode well for the weather, though – mum always said when the crescent was on it’s back, it was holding rain in it’s belly. I hope she’s wrong.

My unusually distorted shadow caught under Middleton Bridge arch from my bike light was an oddly serendipitous thing, too.

Grim days are what we make of them, I guess. Never was that more true than today,

#365daysofbiking Fade to grey:

November 24th – A grey , dark day with few redeeming features. A little maintenance on the bikes failed in the face of a more serious issue, and I headed out before nightfall for a breather. A full circuit of Chasewater and Chasetown offered little in the way of photo opportunities, and the images, apart from one, reflected the colour of the day.

The night, some what perversely however, was a bit more dramatic, as I captured at Anchor Bridge.

#365daysofbiking Not just pointless, but wrong:

November 18th – This one may be of interest to the Back the Track guys. 

When the NCN – National Cycle Network – was created by charity Sustrans in the late 90s in the UK as a Millennium Project, the Royal Bank of Scotland invested heavily in creating thousands of cast iron mileposts for the new routes, to be erected, well, every mile. Apart from being an utter waste of metal and time, the money spaffed on this pointless vanity crap could have gone into trail upkeep or whatever.

I notice of late some kind soul with a surfeit of time has been touring the network painting and renovating these monuments to banking largesse, but this one, on the old rail line just south of the Old Cement Works – or Slough – Bridge in Brownhills remains neglected and forgotten. 

There’s a reason for that.

It’s not actually on the National Cycle network at all.

Trail 5 comes through Brownhills on its amble from Walsall to Lichfield, and at this point arrives at the bridge from Ryders Hayes by canal towpath; it then continues up onto the bridge and along the former line north to Coppice Lane. This post is about 15 metres off the route on a cuthrough to Apex Road, that’s not actually part of the route at all, and due to barriers and a steep bank, is dammed hard to get a bike up.

So not just pointless, but wrong.

Sustrans. Never knowingly the cyclist’s friend.

#365daysofbiking Reflections:

November 17th – I returned to Brownhills on the canal and that was much more rewarding. Although the sunset wasn’t anything significant, the reflections on the water and the light around bridges made for some lovely views.

You really can’t beat riding the canals at dusk.

#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.

#365daysofbiking Mystical:

October 31st – Passing Victoria Park on Station Road, Darlaston on a beautiful day on the cusp between autumn and winter I’m reminded how lovely this place really is. 

I’ll never tire of that view of the Mystic Bridge and the leaves turning.

Summer may be long since gone but there is still plenty of beauty around.

#365daysofbiking Stark:

October 29th – I took a stop at an old night-time favourite, for old time’s sake.

Clayhanger Bridge and the overflow still captivate me at night. So many possibilities. So still. So starkly beautiful.

The G1X seems to like it.

I hope the darkness will be my friend this year.

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#365daysofbiking Loaded:

October 19th – In telford at the other end of the journey, on the new bridge project, technicians are stud welding – mounting threaded pins to steelwork to enable attachment of another structure.

A better demonstration of the loading effect on a generator could not be found anywhere. 

Every time they weld, watch and listen to the generator.

Science in action!