Tag: cat

July 21st – I was stuck behind a very slow-moving car in The Butts, Walsall, when I happened to look to my left, and I noticed I was being monitored from atop a tall garden wall.

This young, stripy cat – what beautiful markings it has – meowed at me and clearly wasn’t to be a new friend. I was intrigues by his sharp features and think there must be some rex or siamese in him somewhere.

After telling me off extensively, one last glare then he jumped down into the garden that lay over the wall. I could still hear him yowling as I rode away.

A charming, if unwelcoming fellow.

July 13th – I met this affectionate lady on the footpath near The Butts in Walsall. She was patrolling the footpath, so I stopped to say hi. She busily sought my attention, rubbing herself on the bike, as well as my legs and feet. Impossible to photograph properly as she couldn’t keep still, she mewed softly and me before following another chap on foot over the road where she promptly rolled over and invited me to tick her tum.

A lovely puss. I like how she’s wearing eyeliner on her left eye…

July 7th – A trip to deliver a vehicle to Telford from work presented the opportunity to ride from the new town into Ironbridge Gorge, then after breakfast at a lovely cafe, up through Coalbrokedale to the Wrekin. After riding and climbing to the top, a ride down, and then around the town in the surrounding countryside, through Wrockwardine, The Dukes Drive, Kynnersley Moor and Lilleshall. The ride onwards took me through Wheaton Aston, Pekridge and Bridgtown to home.

An excellent long ride with some challenging climbs (not least the Wrekin itself) and some great countryside and weather. 

What summer is all about!

July 5th – Returning, I came down the main road, and by the old people’s flats, a familiar grumpy, curled up ball, sleeping in the communal garden: it’s the old gummy cat I featured here a couple of weeks ago.

Always nice to see the old lad, and I particularly like his truculent, just-woken-up air here. Such a lovely old cat. I’m sure we share many common traits in our parallel dotages.

June 30th – Spotted near Wednesbury, this lovely black cat that I’m sure a passing witch must have left behind. Prowling the perimeter of it’s territory, it peered at me cautiously before settling down to stare me out through the railings.

A lovely puss that clearly takes security duties very seriously indeed!

June 19th – I met this skinny, lithe young cat in north Walsall, flaked out on the footpath in the late afternoon heat. Grubby, like he’d been sleeping and rolling in the dust all day, clearly a gentleman of leisure.

The curious position he was in I initially feared he might be hurt, but he was fine, and obligingly rolled over for a tummy tickle and game of chew the finger.

A charming soul and a true flaneur of the summer streets.

June 18th – Another fine, high summer day and this time I headed out to North Warwickshire, going from Stonnall to Bassets Pole, on to Middleton, body moor Heath, Hurley, Baxterley, Grendon and up the canal back to Tamworth with a speedy run down the old A5 home.

It was a lovely ride on a gorgeous day and the scenery showed itself well. Merevale Hall still sits imperiously over the plains beyond the Watling Street, and over the former mining communities on the ridge, which apart from the memorials and odd preserved building, you’d never guess had ever existed at all.

It was also a day of languid animals, from the ambling rabbits who unusually didn’t have a rush in them, to lounging cats hunting shadow, rather than sun. 

Bernie the boater Birman was going for a walk with his dad at Polesworth, on a lead as he normally lives at home. He was perfectly content and a lovely cat.

A word of caution, though: if you’re planning to ride the Coventry Canal between Grendon and Polesworth, choose something agricultural to ride. The towpath is non-existent and was seriously challenging to ride.

May 30th – Coming back into Brownhills and passing the appropriately named Catshill Junction, the local neighbourhood watch was on duty, doing what it does best.

Watching the neighbourhood.

Mainly for birds, I think, but I couldn’t actually see the focus of peeping Tom’s attention. But I do think this captures the feline spirit well. Bless – it never paid me any attention at all.

May 23rd – With warmer weather, during the warm hours, the urban cat population revert ro their languid, lazy norms, finding shady, peaceful spots to doze and watch the world go by – at least until it’s cooler, when they tend to be more active.

Coming through central Walsall in the afternoon, this young overseer of the neighbourhood was en repose on top of the wheeliebins in a shady front garden, and clearly enjoying the cool vantage point.

Seeing such characters emerge is one of the best things about summer…