June 16th – A lost day with bike repairs when everything went wrong. Slipping out on a test ride as darkness fell, I hit Silver Street and Catshill Junction, and realised I’d forgotten just how much the G7X camera loves the twilight.
A dreadful day, but a bit of a ride in the glorious even cool was just what I needed.
June 15th – I really have got the taste for Birmingham and the Black Country’s canals. Another trip into the city after work on a grey, occasionally drizzly afternoon rewarded me with flowers, great bridges and interesting views.
You just know that if life were a video game, there would be a secret something behind that brickwork.
Really enjoyed the Tame Valley Canal today.
June 13th – One of the more fascinating things about the commonly derided and scorned Canada goes is their propensity to social support between families.
On the way home from work this evening, four adults (one dallying out of shot) and two broods of goslings numbering a dizzying total of 12 youngsters in two distinct stages of growth indicated that two families were hanging out together and probably sharing childminding and security duties.
Can’t think of any other wild birds that do this.
Lovely to see, and I got hissed at in quadrophonic!
June 12th – Following isolation of the leak at Little Bloxwich, the canal level has continued to rise and is now about 20-25mm off maximum (ie. the weir bar at Clayhanger overflow), so more or less back to normal.
It took a while, with problems at Chasewater and with balancing pumps having to be installed at the leak site, but thankfully, apart from the fact that there’s a large repair required in Little Bloxwhich which will prevent passage from Brownhills to Wolverhampton and vice versa by boat for a bit, it’s good to see the waterway back to normal health.
This could have been so much worse.
June 10th – Good deed for the day, though I don’t know if it did any good.
Slipping through Oldbury, something grey moving in the water caught the eye, and stopping to investigate I found that it was a sodden, floating and stricken wood pigeon that had somehow fallen in the water, and couldn’t get out. Although floating on it’s outstretched wings, it looked tired and frightened and was clearly going to die if it couldn’t get out.
Forty minutes later, using a spare inner tube as a gentle lasso, I finally got the struggling, terrified bird onto the towpath. It was saturated, and exhausted.
I placed him carefully in a patch of sun to dry out in the undergrowth. A couple of boaters nearby said they’d keep an eye on it.
I think it probably died: It was so wet, so shocked, so tired. But I couldn’t leave it to drown without trying. Hopefully, foxy didn’t find lunch, the sun was enough to dry him and the grass around provided enough nutrition to get him to safety.
Hopefully. Call me a fool, but I couldn’t leave it there.
June 10th – On the previous Friday, I got the taste for Birmingham and it’s canals again, so I headed up to Wolverhampton on the cut and back down the old line through Tipton into the city centre.
As ever, the sheer vibrancy of this environment – that many would condemn as ugly – was stunning. From the wildlife to the flowers, the discarded dreams in the scrapyard, the geese and herons and all in-between were a joy. I love the seamless continuity of the upper side of the Engine Arm Aqueduct, although you’d be hard pressed to realise the glamorous structure below.
Much of the main line I rode had been resurfaced – and although it needs sweeping badly due to loose gravel – the riding is very good indeed.
Had to smile at the gull that looked like it was concealing a weapon.
A fantastic urban ride. The weather really is spoiling me at the moment.
June 6th – There’s a splendid display of orchids this year in the meadows, wetland margins and by the canal – but sadly many have been destroyed – or stunted – by the agressive local towpath mowing schedule by the Canal and River Trust.
Can they not tolerate a bit of uncut grass for a few weeks while these bee-attracting beauties thrive? Perhaps they could use the manpower to fix some of the leaks and failing infrastructure instead…
June 5th – This is an urban canal in the Black Country – Between Walsall and Darlaston, at James Bridge.
It runs past the site of what was one of the most polluting factories in Europe: James Bridge Copper Refinery.
The canal is green with water lilies, and dappled with yellow and white blooms from them; flag irises aggravate my hay fever but line the water margins. Two families of Canada geese promenade in the sun.
Not all change is for the worst.
June 4th – The flower display is continuing. So much stuff is appearing now it’s very hard to keep track, but canalside and meadow orchids are looking beautiful, dog roses and x-eye daisies all caught my eye on my commute.
There really is no better time to be on a bike, right out here in the outdoors during great sunny weather.
I have waited so long for this.
June 2nd – Heading out on a dull but warm afternoon, the eventual aim was Draycott in the Clay steam fair at Klondyke Mill, but fate had other ideas. On the way, I called in at Chasewater to see if it was filling the canal. It was, the valves were open.
There has been a leak in the canal near Little Bloxwich that has lost a huge amount of water into a culvert beneath the canal, and the Canal and River Trust had said initially the drop in level was due to Chasewater’s supply being cut off by Staffordshire County Council, which was clearly arrant nonsense.
The Trust finally released an emergency stoppage notice and began damming off the leak that very afternoon.
Chasewater is still very full, and when called upon will need to fill the five inches or more lost from the canal. An interesting situation to watch.
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