September 27th – It was clear when I left work that there was going to be a good sunset, and it reached it’s peak just as I hit Brownhills. An absolutely stunning sundown, I haven’t seen the like for a good while – the sky appeared to be on fire, with the dying red light reflected on the underside of mackerel clouds.
A great benefit of the shortening of the day is riding home in sunsets like these.
September 25th – A windy, wolfish day with lots of sun and a few showers. Riding wasn’t so great – I was still short of energy, but on the other hand it was beautiful to see the rainbow form over Hammerwich just after the rain passed through.
It’s been ages since I saw one this vivid.
September 24th – Near Anchor Bridge on the canal at Brownhills, autumn isn’t much in evidence apart from a chill in the air and a strong wind with a familiarly hostile edge.
But in a canalside garden, a healthy crop of what appear to be good cooking apples. Bet they’d make a nice pie.
September 24th – Heading for Chasewater from Brownhills along the canal, my recovery ride was slow and plodding, but if it had not been, I might not have looked right down the Spot Path on Clayhanger Common and seen the old dog fox annoyed at my disturbing his duck hunting activities.
One ear flat in irritation and an expression of utter contempt, that fox never changes and we’re old familiars.
Rare to be able to catch a photo – despite his age he’s nimble and still quick on his feet.
September 23rd – A chance day off and escape into the Staffordshire Moorlands. I rode the reverse of a ride I did in spring, leaving at dawn and riding up through Rugeley and Uttoxeter, then over to Marston Montgomery, Snelston and Ellastone, over the Weaver Hills and Waterhouses, up Morridge to Flash, then back through Danebridge and Rushton Spencer to Congleton, where I picked up a train back to Lichfield.
Passing Morning Star, the steam roller from Klondike Mill at Uttoxetter was a rare treat.
It was a long ride, over a century, and the climbing was hard and prolonged. There was a good but chilly following wind, but when the sun shone it was warm and lovely.
What a joy to catch summer’s last breath in such beautiful scenery.
September 22nd – Also coming out better than expected was Morris, the Brownhills Miner. I often have people grumbling I don’t feature him here often enough, but it’s hard to know what to do with him; Morris has been photographed so often and so well by others, my photos would jut be noise.
I’m very fond of Morris – as a technical achievement, he’s stunning and a wonderful demonstration of Finite Element boundary analysis as a method of solving complex shape resolution. But he’s also that rarity – a civic artwork with soul.
Morris has done very little for Brownhiills. He hasn’t ‘put is on the map’ – we never left it; he hasn’t created jobs or sparked a regeneration.
But what Morris has done is made lots of people smile, and wonder about the history he represents.
Which is worth an awful lot in my book.
ISeptember 22nd – It was a pleasant but slightly chilly evening as I slipped out for a test circuit of Brownhills after a little bike maintenance. I’d forgotten my camera when I went to work, and was still without it, so I gave the phone lens a polish and had a go.
Cameras on phones haven’t half come on in the past few years.
September 19th – Freewheeling down Shire Oak Hill into Brownhills, I stopped to look at the sad hulk of the Rosa – or ‘Middle’ Oak, closed a couple of years ago, and once a popular, award-winning pub. Sold privately, no planning applications have ever been submitted for another use, and the building continues to fall quite into decay. The only use it sees these days if neighbours using the car park.
Nobody seems to know what, if anything, the owners have planned.
A sad end to a once fine community pub.
September 17th – A bad day in lots of ways, but a sunset ride to sort the head out worked wonders. Heading up the canal to Chasewater the scenery was beautiful and the light golden. My favourite tree at Home Farm, Sandhills is laden with conkers and just showing signs of autumn, and the view to Hammerwich was gorgeous.
On the canal at Newtown, the Newtown one minded her own business, unconcerned by the stalking black cat, who seemed a bit peeved at my appearance.
If autumn promises more of this, it can stay around…
September 10th – A grey, wet and miserable day saw me slipping out late on errands. Having left my camera behind, I had to rely on my phone – but it wasn’t a particularly photogenic day. Crossing the Pier Street Bridge I noticed boats moored at the canal side, the smell of woodsmoke, and the stillness of the water.
It really does feel like autumn’s in now.
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