Tag: Castle Hill

#365daysofbiking Oddly peaceful

January 4th – It wasn’t particularly late – I think about 5pm, maybe 6. I was test riding after repairs. I’d relented and cleaned the bikes and done to urgent jobs on them. So a test ride around the bounds of Brownhills was very much in order.

I’d dropped down off Castle Gate onto Chester Road to burn in new brake pads, but as I pottered up the Chester Road back towards Brownhills, I realised there was next to no traffic and hardly anyone about.

I guess it’s the post-Christmas lull, but even the Shire Oak pub looked sleepy in the evening.

A peaceful, but somewhat odd, journey.

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August 24th – At Chester Road near the Stonnall turning, just before Castlehill, change is afoot. The old quarry with the hardstanding, idle since the 50s after it’s use as a concrete block manufacturing works is now undergoing groundworks for the construction of a new care home.

There have been a number of planning applications for this site over recent times, and permission for a fairly large elderly person’s care facility was granted last year and will involve extensive modifications to the road to mitigate the driveway.

It’ll be interesting to watch this progress.

May 3rd – An old cycling friend of mine whom I used to meet occasionally in the lanes of Staffordshire – the late, lamented Maurice Purser, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 93 and still rode when he was 90 – would have referred to today as a ‘wolf of a day’, in that it looked nice and friendly, but was vicious with teeth and claws. The sun was out, it was clear as a bell. It was even a tad warmer – but there was the kind of punishing, relentless wind you get in May that makes cycling in the wrong direction a joyless, unpleasant chore.

I kept close to home, and visited some places I knew would benefit from clear air and sunlight; Lazy Hill, Thornes Hill and the the church at Stonnall, and Grove Hill. I drank in the views, enjoyed the oilseed rape and noted that from Lazy Hill the wind turbine near Whittington was clearly visible. The aspect from the rear of the churchyard – just beyond the fence – was as wonderful as ever, a veritable walk across Stonnall’s rooftops. Up on Grove Hill I was buffeted by the wind and took several attempts at the panorama.

This is our area at it’s best, and worst: a grand day that presented the scenery beautifully, but was just too hostile to cycle out to see it.

August 31st – It was a gorgeous afternoon – sunny, warm, with only a light wind. Sadly, I missed most of it due to being unwell. I finally left for a gentle spin at 5pm, and spun up the canal to Aldridge, then over Lazy Hill and back up the Chester Road over Shire Oak into Brownhills.

I had no energy at all. But it was a lovely ride, and I stopped to photograph the view at the top of Lazy Hill and at Shire Oak. I’m astounded how far you can see from Shire Oak on a clear day – those cooling towers are the derelict ones at Willington; inbetween, Burton and the huge Argos warehouse at Barton.

Note also the wind turbine at Whittington Hurst, seemingly very close in the shot of prospect house.

A great, short ride.

June 27th – A hard day and an awful journey home for the last commute of the week. The trains were a mess and I came back from Four Oaks against a grinding headwind with little left in my reserve tanks. I was knackered.

Re-armed with the camera, I spied this field of high-quality, nicely ripening barley at the foot of Castle Hill. It’s a lovely crop, with plump, large grain and will make fine malt.

I love the satin sheen of an undulating crop of barley, as it bobs in the wind. It’s one of the great seasonal sights of the English countryside. 

January 21st – I was expecting traffic chaos, so I left it until late to leave for work. As it was, I needn’t have bothered, as the schools were closed, and the traffic was light. The trains weren’t too bad, either, and the only bad aspect of the commute was the atrocious state of Mill Lane at Mill Green. It’s only a backlane, but I thought it would be OK; however, the snow had compacted, then started to break up and it was like riding on slippery shingle, even with the studded tyres.

Stonnall, Grove Hill and Castlehill looked beautiful in the snow. It’ll be interesting to see how we cope as the cold snap, predicted to last at least a week, begins to bite. After all, it’s not got too cold yet…

May 28th – Leaving Aldridge and heading for Stonnall for a fix of countryside in the sunshine, I pottered down Hobs Hole Lane on the Lazy Hill/Aldridge border. Here, in the lee of the ridge that stretches like a spine from Shire Oak to Barr Beacon, the oilseed rape was just going over, and smelled sweet and sickly. Near the Chester Road, I hung a left up onto Back Lane, another unmade track that runs behind the Plough and Harrow pub and comes out near Wood Lane. It was a tranquil, green haven. Sadly a hotspot for flytipping, it was also clean today, which made for a pleasant surprise.

September 30th – hot and bothered from a day in the crowds of Birmingham, I escaped in the early evening and took a spin over Castlehill. Ducking through a hedge at the summit into a field of carrots, the view of South Staffordshire was hazy, autumnal and gorgeous. You can knock our area in all manner of ways, but be honest, this is a cracking view over a rolling, historic, beautifully rural landscape. What’s not to love? Open your eyes, folks…

August 30th – Castlefort is a very old hill topped by a recognised ancient hill fort. Forming the south eastern flank of Shire Oak, this green, wooded hillside has a small, very old hamlet of houses. Occasionally referred to as Upper or Over Stonnall, from old maps it seems to have been called Castle Gate at one point. Prospect House, the White three storey classically Staffordshire cottage at the junction of Castlhill and the Chester Road, is a well known landmark for miles around. Pictured from the fields to the south, I doubt that this view has changed much in a century or so.