Tag: canal

#365daysofbiking Rising damp

Saturday, October 10th 2020 – A dreadful, wet autumn day of the kind that makes you want to hibernate for the whole winter. Everything was wet: Doing jobs about the house meant walking muddy water in and it was best just staying put and plan for better days and decent rides out.

Hopefully Sunday would be an improvement.

I escaped late in a lull in the deluge and did a short loop of Brownhills, yup to Anchor Bridge and back through Clayhanger. At Anchor Bridge you’d be hard pressed to spot the effects of the rain – – but the towpaths were too sodden to ride and a telltale sheen on the tarmac belied the all-pervasive damp.

I picked up a curry and headed home: Even on this short ride I felt grubby and wet. Hopefully better days will come soon.

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#365daysofbiking The united colours of autumn

Friday, October 9th 2020 – Some rides start out pretty badly, but you plough on and realise how wise you were to do so: This was just such an instance.

I wanted to be out. I’d set my heart on it, but mechanical problems delayed me, and not more than a couple of miles from home, it rained heavily. It was cold and I was feeling grim.

But I persevered and the sun came out upon a sodden south Staffordshire and I headed to Hoar Cross over Armitage and Rowley.

I returned via Woodmill, Morrey, and up the A515.

Amethyst deceivers were found near Chasewater, their vivid purple colouring marking them as one of the UK’s most beautiful toadstools; there was a cracker of a rainbow over the Needwood Valley as I rested on the bench at Hoar Cross. And the day wrapped up with a gorgeous autumnal sunset.

I went out feeling distinctly blue, but nature showed me the whole spectrum and I returned much happier.

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#365daysofbiking Becalmed

Sunday, October 4th 2020 – It’s been a horrid few days: Autumn has really swept in now with high winds and near constant rain that thankfully, petered out in the afternoon and allowed me to get some tasks sorted.

Dashing about still at dusk after popping to friends, I crossed the Silver Street bridge in Brownhills, another night-time favourite for the lights on the canal.

It was peaceful, but still damp and with a heavy week to come, I wasn’t feeling too positive. But the weather does seem to be improving a little and all things must pass.

In the solitude of the Peter-Savilleesque bridge, I felt instantly calmer and just a little more at peace with myself than I had for days.

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#365daysofbiking A break in the weather

Friday, October 2nd 2020 – A brief break in the weather as dusk fell had me dashing out for a quick circuit of the town.

Between Anchor Bridge and Catshill Junction, weak, late sun caught the water, and made it precious.

Even the most horrid days can have their beautiful moments.

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#365daysofbiking Tinseltown in the rain

Wednesday, September 30th 2020 – Unusually of late, I was working over, and came home in the dark, but also it was raining steadily, which felt almost alien to me as it has been such a dry autumn really.

The towpaths weren’t yet swamped and riding them wasn’t too bad as I paused at Catshill Junction to text home.

This view has changed a lot in the last few years – I remember a second tower block here, where the new apartments are now, and life never felt so close at night – but it’s still a lovely spot for a breather.

Not a soul around, only the sound of a TV in one of the dwellings, the cough and tobacco scent of a nearby garden smoker and the rain rattling musically on the surface of the canal.

Wet rides can be really enjoyable if it’s not to cold, not too windy and you’ve decent waterproofs.

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#365daysofbiking Shroom to manoeuvre

Monday, September 28th 2020 – This journal is now so venerable that I feel it has seasonal traditions, and one of the most important to me is it’s devotion to documenting the fungus season with the many photogenic and interesting varieties of toadstool, ball, mould and slime that abound in autumn.

The mycology is tragically overlooked – it’s a huge kingdom completely different to any other, and without it life on earth could not function at all. And when it blooms and fruits, it’s stunning in its otherworldly beauty.

So far this dry autumn, there hasn’t been much fungal action but with showers in recent days hopefully the shrooms will have the trigger they need to emerge.

I’ll kick it all off this year with these humble but beautiful honey fungus, spotted by the canal in Darlaston on my way to work. Hopefully the first of many this year.

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#365daysofbiking All conkering

Saturday, September 26th 2020 – As I mentioned at my recommencement last week, there are some subjects that are staples of this journal, and I can’t believe I’m a week overdue mentioning my favourite tree: The handsome, gorgeous horse chestnut at Home Farm, Sandhills, visible from the canal at Catshill.

This noble bearing of my life is an integral part of that fine view, and has just started to get on its autumn jacket.

I tell the seasons by this tree, and I judge the weather. I’ve photographed it dawn and dusk, rain, snow, hail and shine. It’s one constant, lovely thing I rely on and feel a great sense of topophilia for – yet I don’t think I’ve ever been closer than a few hundred yards to it.

In a chaotic world, we need anchors. This tree is one of mine, and long may it remain so.

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#365daysofbiking Bleat it

Wednesday, September 23rd 2020 – I note sheep are grazing on some fast growing crop planted swiftly after the late summer harvest at Home Farm, Sandhills. It looks like some brassica or other, probably kale.

Sheep are an unusual sight here, as the land is solidly arable, but every now and again, a winter crop like this is grown and sheep from another farm are let loose to feed upon it for a few weeks. I guess it must me a good earner; last time was Christmas 2018, I think.

Nice to see them. Wonder if we’ll get the escapees again on the canal towpath this time?

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#365daysofbiking Overnight mooring

Sunday, September 20th 2020 – The closing in of the evenings means that there will be more night shots here as the season advances, and there are a few favourites I return to, for no other reason than I love the images they make.

At the top end of Brownhills, on the border between there and Walsall Wood, the Anchor Bridge is lovely at night. I adore this view.

The colours and light of a night shot can, counteiintuitly, be gorgeously vivid.

Quiet, contemplative scenes like this moor me through the winter until the light returns. Therapy, I think.

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#365daysofbiking Inhaling green:

Wednesday, September 16th 2020 – While I’ve been away the canals have continued as they ever were, with small changes. They got very busy with pedestrians and cyclists for a while, a product of fair weather and lockdown, so the towpaths were well worn, and the cessation in mowing gave my beloved orchids a sporting chance this year. But the waterfowl, plants and colours were broadly as ever.

Reassuringly, beautifully, peacefully as ever.

The one change that’s been interesting is the azolla bloom that dominated the water surface in 2019 has largely faded, and in its death left sporadic patches of more traditional clumping algae, which must be a pain for waterfowl and boaters alike.

There are still traces of azolla, which was a surface invasive surviving a mild winter, but it was non-stringy and readily parted for birds and watercraft, but it’s mostly gone.

On a dull, grey autumn afternoon, the green and peace here were so welcome, I felt like I was inhaling them.

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