January 28th – By the time I got to Whitehorse Road/Wharf Lane, things felt a bit better. My trepidation was still there, but night was coming in now and the light was altogether better, friendlier and more comforting. And the wind seemed to be subsiding.
There’s a current Canal and River trust campaign about life being better close to water. They’re not wrong, actually.
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January 28th – I was due to have a medical procedure next day.I’d left work early so I could make a start and prepare – I had medicine to take soon which meant I wouldn’t be able to stray far from home for long for a while, so a quick loop up the canal to Newtown and back.
At Ogley Junction, the scenery was stark and bleak as night descended.
I like this spot normally. Admittedly, far nicer on a sunny, warm day, but tonight it left me feeling empty and tired.
Perhaps it was the anxiousness for the following day kicking in – I couldn’t really tell.
The twilight hour can be such an unreliable friend.
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January 27th – I returned that evening in half-light and as I got to Brownhills, I couldn’t resist a shot of the canal at Silver Street from a bit of a different angle.
Night had fallen but it was the most clear, dry glistening evening I’d seen for a while. Not a trace of anything in the air. It was glass hard clear, and beautiful with it.
An area that’s nice enough by day becomes golden and almost mysterious by night.
The lights on the boat looked really welcoming, too…
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January 25th – Of course, I came back through Chasewater for a reason. I wanted to get Chasewater and the area surrounding in mist, when I actually had time to experiment.
As it happened the experiments pretty much all failed, but some notable successes – mainly by accident – were evident. The glass-hard Nine-Foot pool; Chasewater pier looking like something from a film set. The curing wall of LED streetlights over the distant sweep of the deserted M6 Toll. The eerie otherworldliness of the Black Path with its sodium and skeletal trees.
It did indeed seem like another world, but in that one my photographic talents sadly remained as erratic and hit and miss as in this one.
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January 23rd – The murk continued through the next day, too, and it was beginning to get on my chest. Cycling in it, with it’s grim cocktail of traffic fumes, damp, road spray and smog is not inspiring.
However, I had to nip up to Coppice Side on the way home to see a pal. As I crossed the old Jolly Collier bridge, the urban lights and mist combined to make something special.
The diffuse glow of the gas discharge lamps suddenly made a very ordinary place extraordinary, and I was captivated.
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January 21st – Returning home from Bloxwich through Clayhanger, I took the Spot Path back to Brownhills rather than the usually manic and stressful Pelsall Road, the main reason I don’t usually go that way. As I left the village and headed up over the common, I found myself totally alone in the dark.
It was murky and drizzly and there wasn’t a soul about. I could hear distant traffic, dogs, the sounds of people on the new estate over the back – but compared to the ride I’d just had, this was blessed solitude.
This is never a particularly beautiful spot by day. It’s OK, it’s nice enough. But it’s at night that it’s specialness comes to the fore.
Sometimes the lonely dark can actually be reassuringly companiable.
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January 19th – Some things are just nice.
I’m a big fan of Back the Track – the group of, it has to be said, mostly pensioners and older folk who have been determinedly converting the old South Staffordshire Railway trackbed through Brownhills into a cycling and walking route for all to enjoy.
This week they installed the new bench at the base of the signalpost by Clayhanger Marsh. The bench was always a personal dream of Brian Stringer, the group’s instigator and leader. Barry Roberts built the bench in his garage from materials he had, begged and were donated, and now it’s in place for all the trail users to ponder the great views on.
The McLean Way (MW) logo is made cleverly from track clips found discarded in the ballast of the old line.
What’s really neat is the backrest flips over, so you can comfortably sit facing the direction you choose.
It’s a lovely, creative and novel thing and I thank Barry and of course, all of Back the Track for their efforts.
It’s worth noting that there’s no road access to where the bench is sited, so those old guys must have manhandled the bench to it’s position. No mean feat.
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January 19th – A murky, misty, unpleasant day really. It was cold, and although the sun threatened to come through, it never really did here which was a disappointment.
I pottered around Brownhills and Chasewater, looking for good photos but the light was much worse than I was expecting it to be. But there were some good shots.
I was expecting it to make me feel better today, and for once, it didn’t.
Days like today make spring seem a very long way off.
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January 18th -Whatever happens, Brownhills is always in my heart. The old place has it’s problems – like those of any post industrial town – but I love the canals, the open spaces, the countryside and the frontier feel of a town on the fringe between the West Midlands Conurbation and the rolling countryside of South Staffordshire.
On a cold, clear evening, returning from errands I came along the canal at Silver Street and over the bridge.
I love the Peter Saville efeect of the railings on that bridge, and the great views from it. But I also love the friendly feel of the new housing and occasional moored boat.
I take photos here lots… but it’s so photogenic at night. I love this place with all of my heart.
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January 17th -As well as the Bontrager Flare RT rear light, I’ve also subsequently got hold of an Ion Pro RT – the similarly connected front light that is controlled by the bike computer via Ant+ personal area networking.
It’s about the same size as my beloved Garmin UT800 which has served me well for three years now, but squarer in shape. It has some nice orange sidelights, and the same three stages of brightness with a day and night flash too, just like my normal light.
But the kicker is it’s 1300 lumens – 500 lumens brighter than the trusty Garmin, and the connected nature of it works much better, with a handy app allowing me to set modes directly from a screen on the computer unit.
The photo above is the light on minimum brightness. It’s bloody bright, with seemingly (so far) better battery life and control.
I think this might be a grower. Stay tuned.
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