March 26th – Amongst the animal life spotted in Tamworth, two canal cats watching me from the opposite bank. The black one was a sleek, young-seeming and alert garden-panther. The black and white clearly older, more – ahem – generously proportioned – and shall we say a little cuddly.
Both shared the same utter contempt for me.
I adore cats, but often it’s so very much unrequited.
March 24th – I had to visit that cowslip in daylight, so I made sure I passed by in the sunshine.
I hope I did it justice this time.
March 23rd – I headed home in a dreadful headwind, needing to call at the supermarket. I hit the canal, and went to Sainsbury’s at Reedswood. It was a genuinely wonderful evening, but oh so cold.
The weather can be deceptive this time of year: it looks like it should be warm, but my hands and face were freezing, and it took me ages to battle home.
The sun’s great, now can we turn the heating up a notch and the wind down a bit, please?
March 23rd – A mystery that’s been puzzling me for a long time has been solved.
This time of year, I always note floating roots in the canal, often sprouting foliage. I had thought they were the way reedmace spreads, but discovered this was incorrect last year, so they remained a mystery.
Thanks to someone I work with (thanks, Dagmar) I now know these are the way a water plant spreads, but not rushes or reeds, but water lilies.
These roots are water lily rhizomes, from which the clumps of the delightful summer flowers spout. I never realised that under the water, they were linked in clumps.
Isn’t nature wonderful?
March 22nd – A terrible photo snatched in the dark: but spring is here – THIS IS NOT A TEST.
The first spot of my favourite flowers, cowslips on the side of the canal towpath at Clayhanger.
I adore these charming little yellow flowers. Their appearance for me confirms the end of winter and the brightness of a new spring. After the rain and misery of the day’s riding, areal pick-me-up in a dark, wet ride home.
March 20th – With the start of my beloved British Summer Time less than a week away now (not that I’m counting the days at all) it was strange to get as far as Brownhills on a normal time commute and it still be pretty much light.
The morning commute had been awful – driving rain and a headwind – but the late afternoon had been sunny, if much colder than the previous day.
Hopping onto the canal at the Black Cock Bridge the towpaths were sodden, but I enjoyed the ride.
Stopping to photograph the view from Catshill Junction before my return to Brownhills, apart from the huge expanses of standing water, you’d not have known that most of the day had been so intemperate.
March 18th – I popped up to a wind-blasted Chasewater, which is still a mud-bath. I noted that the wakeboard lines are reopening for the season, and the canal valve is still open – but by no means fully; the spillway is now dry and the balancing culvert valve has been closed.
The canal filling could well be to do with works ongoing around the Midlands network right now; on recent rides I noticed a lot of drained locks and other works ready for the new season.
Either way, the level seems to have been roughly stable now for a month or so. I presume the earlier dam works have now finished.
It’ll be interesting to see how low the water gets over the coming summer.
March 18th – A brief run out on a wolfish, windy afternoon had me glared at by a resident of… Catshill.
This grey and white, somewhat scornful fellow was watching me contemptuously from the far bank of the canal, just past the Anchor pub. I’ve never seen in before, but from the small grey dot on his nose to the subtle striped tail, he’s clearly a lovely cat.
I noticed he seems to be sitting at the mouth of a fox set, too. Wonder if the resident was inside, wishing the cat would bugger off?
March 11th – Unusually for a Saturday, I was at work all day, and returned on a pleasant ride that started in daylight, and finished in darkness after a trip to the supermarket.
Hopping on the canal at Bentley Bridge in Darlaston Green, I noted the resurfacing of this section of towpath was well underway, and a nice job it is too – although more beneficial than the previous stretch, the towpath wasn’t that bad here and I don’t really see the point – but it is nice and I’ll use it more.
The sweep over the derelict arm bridge near the Anson Branch rolls wonderfully and will be fun at speed.
At Pleck I was puzzled by the graffiti sprayed on the wall behind the wine warehouse – anyone any idea what this is about? I feel it’s genuinely historical rather than just being the work of some addled stoner but can’t put my finger on it.
March 4th – A much better day, when it felt spring had arrived. It was the day of the annual Erdington Cycle Jumble, so a chance to rummage some tat, bag a bargain, scoff bacon rolls and talk to old faces. Following, I rode the canals of Birmingham, down through Brookvale, Witton Lakes, Aston, up over the Hockley Flyover to Soho for lunch, back along the canal to Small Heath, then via the Cole Valley and Plants Brook back to Sutton Park and home.
I was particularly intrigued by the wonderful Jonathan Meades immortalised in stencil underneath Spaghetti Junction.
It was a great ride with periods of lovely sunshine, spring flowers and only one heavy downpour.
And the cats, particularly the monocular marmalade munchkin in Erdington, were great, as ever.
A restorative and lovely ride.
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