Tag: Brownhills

#365daysofbiking A taste of honey

July 3rd – As expected, someone has flailed the beautiful, tumbling honeysucklle on the southern flank of the Black Cock Bridge, as they do every year when it’s in bloom. it’s ad, but it’s their hedge, I guess. But I’ll never understand it.

Now, i’ll have to make do with the other honeysuckle growing hereabouts – and there’s a lot of it, to be fair: Another think now profuse that wasn’t really about much when I was a kid.

This example, mingling beautifully in a tangled, glorious mess of brambles, lupins, cow parsley and bindweed, is growing on the embankment above the big house at Clayhanger, just on the edge of the canal towpath.

And thankfully, I’ve never seen anyone trim this one…

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#365daysofbiking Backtracked

July 1st – A better day, and a decent commute. I had to head up to Norton on my way back so I took the old railway line trail from where it crosses engine lane up to the A5.

Trains haven’t been here for near enough a century and the common here has now recovered well from 200 years of mining. It’s now peaceful and rather beautiful.

Could do without the off-road motorbikes tearing everything up though…

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#365daysofbiking Into the blue

June 30th –  A rest day, a day for bike maintenance and feeling a little bit down after the exertions of the previous days. The weather was less warm and it felt a bit like that had been summer.

I slipped out in the afternoon for a gentle spin and cruised a loop of Brownhills on a test ride. I felt OK, fluid, and not stiff, but I was already yearning to be out again – but the wind was quite strong and I really wasn’t into it. I ran some errands and caught up with things.

The landscape at Home farm was beautiful in its high summer jacket, and on the positive side, it does look now like summer has started.

As my ride reminded me, perhaps this was the start, not the end.

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#365daysofbiking You’re having a laugh

June 29th – Spotted while I was on my way to calli at the Co-op on the way home: This wonderful frog, who appeared to be laughing.

I have no idea if frogs laugh or indeed, find anything funny. But this gorgeous creature posed for photos under bike light with the most wonderful facial expression.

I was very pleased to see it – not seen many frogs this year.

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#365daysofbiking How sweet thou art

June 28th – Riding out in the morning for a long ride with an old friend, we passed through Anglesey Wharf where coal from the Chasetown, Norton and Burntwood mines used to be loaded on narrowboats for transport south.

The wharf long ago fell silent, although the remains of the coal chutes and conveyors remain witness to a dark industrial past – but today, the spot is peaceful and teaming with wildlife.

Growing around a coal loading chute that used to be polished to a shine by the black gold are now the most delicate, beautifully scented wild sweetpeas, unthinkable in the wharf’s heyday.

It’s lovely to see and a great memorial to a lost industry, and a nod to a much cleaner future.

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#365daysofbiking Getting some greens

June 27th – The Watermead swan brood now are growing fast, and the chicks are getting quite a size, with them now in the lanky, scruffy stage of their development.

It’s more common now to see lone cygnets browsing and feeding away from the parent group and this busy forager was feeding on one side of Catshill Junction while his mum and 2 siblings were snoozing on the grass by the narrows on the Walsall Wood side.

With plenty of water greens to keep them healthy they’ll soon be adult-sized birds.

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#365daysofbiking A passing brightness

June 26th – Sad to see the last of the orchids fading away now but it’s been a great year for them.

I think they like the rain, so the summer has been good for something, at least.

I love these gorgeous purple flowers – a real symbol of the cleanliness our canals now enjoy. Such a shame they’re so transient in nature.

Until next year, then…

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#365daysofbiking When the shit goes down

June 25th – I say, phantom poo flinger – you, yes you scummy git – stop it forthwith.

People are working hard to clear the rail line below the Anglesey Branch Canal aqueduct as a walking and cycling trail for all the public to use.

Volunteers are fed up with cleaning up after you.

More power to them, it’s a filthy habit and you should be ashamed.

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#365daysofbiking Float on

June 25th – Nice, but sad to see the white water lilies are out now on the canal between Brownhills and Chasewater.

Running an errant in the evening, I passed these near Freeth Bridge and although I love them, their appearance signals a summer passing.

Hopefully the weather will improve soon and I’ll be able to make the most of it.

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#365daysofbiking Family values

June 23rd – Another cheering sight was the swan family resting up en masse in a canalside garden near Wharf Bridge. Sadly slightly depleted in number now due to predation, the six remaining birds were content and sleeping – along with a cheeky mallard that clearly decided to join them.

What a lovely thing to have in your garden!

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