Tag: Brownhills

April 14th – Spring came today properly, and brought with her warm sun and the general population out enjoying itself in what seems like the first temperate weather since last year…

Interested to note as I rode out through Chasewater on a bike ride to Cannock Chase and Shugborough that the canal feeder valve from the full reservoir is now open quite some way, and there’s a strong flow of water into the canal.

Either the Canal and River Trust have sorted out their argument with Staffordshire County Council, or the latter have decided unilaterally to reduce the water level in the reservoir themselves.

I noticed that at the time of observation, the main lake was still overtopping the weir at the Nine-Foot so the valves can only have been very recently opened.

Always an interesting, relaxing thing to watch.

April 8th – I’ve been trying to get a decent version of this photo for ages. For two winters, in fact. What usually spoils it is traffic on the bridge and ripples on the surface of the canal. At Anchor Bridge tonight though, there were little of either when I flowed along here liquid back into Brownhills High Street – the reflection of the canal wasn’t bad and the Anchor’s lights looked welcoming and warm in the dark.

Sometimes, with some photos, its just a matter of patience.

April 8th – Following the sad, low fug of the day before I awoke determined to feel better today come what may. I busied myself catching up with the blog and this journal, and getting things done that had been withering for a while.

I actually got a lot done and felt much better, so much so that I actually didn’t get out on my bike until after dark, when I had to shoot up to the shop for some supplies. I took a more scenic route than usual, and headed for the canal since it was such a clear, still night.

The watered from Coopers Bridge looked wonderful. The only sound was the generator used by the narrowboat, and occasionally waterfowl calls. The Canon camera, as usual, drank up the dark and worked magic with it.

A glorious evening.

April 7th – Ogley Junction Footbridge is mystifying me a little. The bridge itself and deck were restored beautifully, to much local praise. The remainder of the work – the spit and polish, if you like, hats been patchy. 

The pathway off the bridge was originally remade badly, and now has been dug out and corrected, which is good to see. But the bit baffling me is the masonry.

The brickwork on the wing walls has been vary sparingly pointed, here and there. To me, it looks like it all could have done with doing, and bits still seem to be in a parlous state. I’m prepared to accept the work might be ongoing and not finished yet, but if it is a work in progress, there’s no logical pattern to completion whatsoever.

A bit of a conundrum.

April 7th – An awful, terrible horrible day in which little went to plan and I just gradually lost the will to try. A spin out in light drizzle late wasn’t so bad though, and did make me feel a little better.

As I headed up the canal towards Newtown, I realised that things are greening up well – the fields of Sandhills and Hammerwich are bright green, but have had little chance to shine as yet.

The mist and murk would ordinarily have been depressing, but for the fresh air, solitude and speed I was grateful. 

Life can be tough sometimes.

April 5th – I keep going on about this to the point that readers must be sick to death of it, but Spring seems alternately on my shoulders and miles away.

Stood on Catshill Junction Bridge, looking at the leafless trees, muddy wet towpaths and general lack of green, spring seems delayed.

We need warm weather, clear skies and all this will just bolt into life.

It ain’t too much to ask, is it? A bit of happiness from the sun?

April 5th – There will be a series of muggings on the canal in coming months.

A pair of familiar criminals met me on my way home – gone for the winter, these fair weather foes appear in the spring every year, and raise a local brood, surviving on the abundant local greens – but also on the tidbits and seed they bully out of passers by whom they harass for treats.

If you’re on the canal between Clayhanger Bridge and The Black Cock, take seed or something to shoo them off with…

April 2nd – The Easter Monday bank holiday was foul – it rained, was cold, windy and overcast and so I busied myself with some technical website stuff, and doing bike maintenance. I slipped out late in the rainy evening for a quiet, reflective circuit of Brownhills, and tried my hand with Morris and the Canon camera again. The street lights are problematic and I just can’t get the image I want at the moment.

Ah well, another evening, perhaps.

March 31st – Heavy rains continued into Saturday with a break in the afternoon, And I took a spin around Clayhanger Common to check out the flooding situation.

As usual in heavy rain, the canal overflow had swamped, and the lower meadow was flooding over the new spot path. I often wonder who comes out and resets the breakers on the street lights after the water level drops.

This area is designed as a flood buffer to hold water away from CLayhanger Village and resolve it’s historical flooding problem – and it does a great job.

March 30th – At Tesco, a reminder in the bike rack that there’s always someone having a worse day than you.

An odd bike was locked there – a Raleigh Jamtland ‘Special edition’ which is a very old-school, low end mountain bike. If the colour scheme rings a bell, that’s because they were designed and made to given as a gift by Ikea to many of their employees in the UK, I believe around Christmas 2010. They were not ideal commuting bikes, with poor gears, awful tyres and no mudguards, and many to this day end up being sold on eBay and the like.

Considering they were an act of largesse by a company known for radical design, they were just awful, cheap bike shaped objects, to be perfectly honest.

This one was in good condition, with little sign of wear,  other than a peculiarly worn front tyre, which I suspect had been swapped for the rear at some point. There was little or no rust, and the frame was barley scratched – but there was a slight problem. A puncture.

It was raining hard, the bike would not be a light push and no tools or repair kit were in evidence. I hung back a little to offer assistance if the owner appeared, but they didn’t.

My sympathies to the rider…