Tag: Cannock Chase

November 11th – An afternoon on Cannock Chase, with mixed results. It was chilly, but clear, and I was looking for badgers. I found the sett I was after, but approached with the wind the wrong side of me and they stayed resolutely hidden. No such shyness, however, from the Penkridge Bank fallow deer who were loafing in their usual spot. The handsome young stag – too young for the recent rutting, I suspect – was drawn by my offerings of carrot and flapjack. These animals are usually here, but usually very skittish. I think the recent chillier weather has drawn them a shade closer to humans. beautiful creatures. Shame the light was so bad.

October 21st – Up on the The Chase and over Shugborough for an afternoon ride. Autumn has really taken hold now. The pines in Abraham’s valley are a lovely yellow, and everything had an aura from the low sun. Soon, the clocks will go back and I’ll be doing this run at dusk. The year advances, slowly, inexorably… where did it go?

October 7th – up on Cannock Chase for the first decent ride in a while. Due to bad weather and work commitments, I haven’t got out so much this year, which saddens me. But this was worth waiting for. There’s a bigger post from this journey over on my main blog – but the Chase, together with Shugborough and it’s environs, were just pulling on their golden autumn jackets. Superb. I must redouble my resolve to get out more…

May 20th – The greening is now in earnest. All over Cannock Chase and the Shugborough Estate, nature is doing it’s damnedest to get our attention. From Brindley Heath to Severn Springs, Milford to Haywood everything is a fluorescent, vibrant, verdant shade of growth. To be in England: can there be anywhere finer right now?

By the way: Cycling over the Shugborough Estate at 8pm, when all the tourists have gone is the way to see it. Hardly a soul, and very, very peaceful.

May 13th – After visiting the MG car show at Chasewater, I headed up the old Ironstone Road over Cuckoo Bank and over to the chase. On the way, I checked out the Hednesford Hills, which I hadn’t been up for a very long time. It was as lovely and deserted as I remembered it. Up on Cannock Chase, I did Birches Valley, but the presence of hoards of mountain bikers was more of a hinderance than company, although the beautiful scenery was as lovely as ever. Returning on the canal through Rugeley, I spotted my first mallard ducklings of the year. Bobbing adrift in the wake of a narrowboat, the flapping balls of fluff found their mum and regrouped.

It was a nice afternoon’s ride, but the wind became increasingly difficult and made for a challenging, draining ride home.

May 6th – A glorious but chilly ride over Cannock Chase and south Staffordshire. Find out more about my day in the post on my main blog. The peculiar arrangement od what looks like a bench with a ratchet sticking through is a sluice gate control on the canal at Rugeley. Took me a while to work out that most of the mechanism had been removed…

March 11th – The encroaching spring doesn’t trouble the fallow deer at Penkridge Bank, Cannock Chase much. Here rain or shine, winter or summer, tis sizeable herd of deer loaf in this area as there’s ready food and ideal woodland close by. These animals are used to humans and merely wary of me and my camera, losing interest when they realise I’ve no carrots. What a joy it must be to live here and see them daily. The children of a nearby house are so used to them, they take no notice….

January 7th – Up at the former RAF Hednesford, it was as peaceful as ever. Families pottered about with kids on bikes – perhaps new ones from Christmas. Dog walkers exercised their companions and it all felt like I’d never been away. I was tired – it had been a battle to get here in a cold wind, and energy reserves were low. Not all the tears running down my cheeks climbing through Wimblebury had been caused by the wind.

I reflected on a time that this place would have been a sea of wooden huts, noise and hubbub, bustling with RAF trainees preparing for war. I suddenly became acutely aware of our position as beneficiaries of their victory. History catches you, sometimes. 

January 7th – emboldened by my trip to Lichfield, I set out into the wind early afternoon and headed to Cannock Chase. I figured that if I could ride up the hills through Heath Hayes and Hednesford, then up to Brindley Heath, I could ride to work. As it happened, I rode it into a nasty wind and in the face of some pretty black clouds. Here at the Hednesford Hills, just on the Chase Heritage Trail, I was preparing for the last climb up to the old RAF Hednesford, and wondering wether to pull out my waterproof hat…

December 28th – I hadn’t been up Haywood Warren for a very long time. The steep collection of ridges sit between the Sherbrook and Abraham Valleys, and offer splendid views of Tixall and Shugborough to the north. At dusk, it was haunting. Total peace apart from bird calls and the territorial hooting of an owl somewhere in the woodland behind me. This is a completely different spot with every season. I must return here more often.