Tag: canal

January 6th – Then there was this fellow. Just look at the unbridled smugness.This is a cat whose self-belief defies his probable hatred of water.

Perched casually on a tree trunk sticking out of the canal bank in Pleck, puss is about 2-3 feet over the water. If he fell off, he’d be very wet and there’s no easy escape; but this cat is unconcerned. 

He just sat there, looking pleased with himself. 

January 4th – Still, once I was wet there was no point in not enjoying the environment. I keep playing with this view of Clayhanger Bridge from the canal. Today, I used the bike light to highlight the railings and overflow. It seems to have worked but would have benefited from a tripod.

One day I must set out to learn what I’m doing with a camera.

January 4th – A wet commute both ways; not full on rain, but periodic drizzle. It was a clingy, cold kind of wet that soaked you without actually doing much.

Fed up of the traffic on the way home, I hopped on to the canal at Walsall Wood – a real mistake. Everything is saturated, and the mud and puddles are endless.

December 31st – Well, another year gone under the wheels and it’s not been a bad year. My health has been generally improving, and we didn’t have a bad spring and summer. The autumn was spectacular, and just this wet, oh so warm and wet winter has been wearing me down.

This evening, drenched and wind-battered at Catshill Junction, I stopped to reflect.

Despite the webbed feet and permanent patina of mud and wet grit, I feel happy I’ve seen it trough – coming very close to four years of cycling every day, and a few months off five years from when I started this journal.

I didn’t get in as many long rides as I planned, but commuting has been consistent, and I’m still enjoying being part of the environment that surrounds me. And all the way I’ve had you guys along with me.

Happy new year to you all – lets hope for a dry new year. May there always be wind at your back, sun on you face and speed in your wheels.

Here’s to 2016, and the return of the light.

December 27th – A cruise around Brownhills in the dark of a damp but moonlit night was odd. It didn’t feel like Sunday, in what must be considered the perineum of the year, this netherworld between Christmas and the return of normality at the turn of the new year. It felt like nowhere – there were no people about, the factories and homes were quiet. Only the pubs showed life, and the open, but deserted takeaways on the High Street.

This time of the year can either be really enjoyable, or purgatory. It’s never middling.

December 19th – I’m slain with a cold, and not yet finished work, I woke up to a weekend of pre-Christmas errands and jobs, which I was having trouble raising enthusiasm for. I haven’t felt very festive this year yet, but this weekend before does tend to set me up. This one was no exception.

Full of painkillers and decongestant, I headed out on another grey day and on my way, passed through Lichfield on the A51. It was warm, and the going much better than expected, and I actually found myself enjoying the ride. I had the wind behind me and progress was good, so I took a little time to check out the works by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canal Restoration Trust there – and I was impressed.

There’s clearly a huge amount to do, and this is just a fragment, but in civil engineering terms it’s impressive. There’s water in one of the pounds now, and the famous Borrowcop mallards were still in residence. Volunteers work hard here most Sundays and Wednesdays, gradually ploughing through a gargantuan task.

I wish them well.

December 15th – I spotted these odd remnants of toadstools on a damp grass verge near the canal at Walsall. I can’t recognise the original fungus, and they seem to  be decaying in an almost skeletal manner. I’m fascinated by the way they seem to be reducing to the structure of their gills.

Fungi are endlessly captivating.

December 12th – Heading out late, I wanted to catch the festival of music and light at the Canoe and Outdoor Centre in Brownhills – but was too late. It looked like they’d had fun though, despite the unpleasant weather.

It has been an utterly foul few weeks, this run-up to Christmas. Wind and rain, and relentless overcast days, and it’s really hit local events like Christmas markets, light switch-ons and fayres.

Let’s hope it all blows itself out for the holiday.

December 5th – A day of high winds and blustery squalls, I left it until late afternoon to get some shopping in. Choosing Aldridge mainly so the wind would blow me home, I rode up the canal, but the towpath were so muddy form recent rains that riding them was a chore; the cloying mud stuck to my tyres and jammed in my mudguards. A real battle.

These hardy canoeists made up for it though. A beautiful scene.