Tag: cnal

January 1st – Something odd has happened and I haven’t really register why. 

As I passed the canal overflow at CLayhanger Bridge in the darkness, I noticed it was very noisy indeed, and that the canal was really full and overtopping considerably. 

I find this puzzling – we’ve had a fair bit of rain, but not that much, surely? Or have I missed it all?

When the overflow is running at full blast it’s a lovely noise and a fascinating thing, almost hypnotic to watch.

I just can’t see where all the water’s come from…

November 7th – I made a terrible decision to nip out mid morning on an call to the Solicitor. While I was there, the rain started, and returning to Darlaston in very heavy rain, I slipped onto the canal for respite from the traffic.

I sheltered under a bridge for a while, listening to the music of the rain on water, before realising the futility of it, cried Geronimo! And dashed for work, scattering the otherwise contented geese in my wake.

‘Did the big girls push you in the cut again, Bob?’ was the piss-taking call that greeted me on my return, drenched…

September 24th – I can’t make up my mind at the moment if fly agaric – the red and white spotted toadstools of folklore – are having a bad year or if I’m just a bit early.

I’ve found a few examples – notably a good specimen on August bank holiday on the Chase – but all the favourite spots like the bank before Anglesey Wharf on the canal at Brownhills are empty save for a few dog-eared or faded specimens.

This one at the top of the above bank seems quite elderly, as the spots drop off and the colour fades as they mature – but where are it’s usual companions?

They had an extraordinarily good year last year so perhaps it’s natural balance.

January 8th – A miserable day, to be quite honest. I’d had plans, but I awoke late, and by the time I’d got the day’s jobs finished, the weather had turned drizzly, wet and unpleasant, and my plans for an afternoon riding over to north Warwickshire were lost.

I slipped out as dusk fell on a test ride, instead: I had stuff to do in Walsall Wood and Aldridge, and after a weekend monkeying with a bike with suspension, getting the damping control and lockout sorted, it needed testing, which was a good excuse for some restorative exertion.

On my way back, I passed Aldridge Marina, which looked rather wonderful in the thinniest, most insubstantial of mists. The combination of that, sodium light and woodsmoke made the scene magical.

Not a lost day, by any means, but not one I enjoyed much.

December 29th – I took a ride up to Park Lime Pits where I hadn’t been for ages as I thought the frozen towpaths might be easier to ride than the usual winter quagmire.

Sadly, the profusion of wildlife evident the day before was largely in hiding, although I did fleetingly see a large male fox patrolling his manor. The robins, however, were performing well.

This is a lovely spot that desperately needs the canal towpaths improving. Perhaps some of the money spent upgrading the ones in east Walsall unnecessarily could be directed here instead?

August 4th – Bitterweet to see the rosehips now ripening well along the lanes and towpaths of the Black Country. They are beautiful in their shiny, vivid orange jackets, their sight brightens many a ride in late summer and autumn. But they also indicate the passage of time and season, and their appearance always makes me a little sad for a summer passing.

There’s plenty of time, though for summer to improve, and while there are still blooms alongside the hips, all is not lost yet.

July 22nd – A fast, enjoyable 50 mile ride on an afternoon bunked off work saw me calling at Barton and then Rosliston for excellent carrot cake on a hot, sunny day. On the way, I took in a little of the canal near Barton Marina, and spotted the benchmark in the bridge just by Barton Turn. I think that’s the first I’ve ever seen highlighted with paint and it also seems rather high.

It must be genuine, but I sense a story here. Any ideas?

June 10th – I slipped out of work for the day near lunchtime, and pottered through the Black Country down the canals into Brum, then back home on the waterways to Aldridge. Unlike Brownhills, I had a mostly dry, temperate afternoon, and life is everywhere, from the lounging cat to the aggressive geese. Flowers and greenery are everywhere, and as ever, the landscape was the star.

It wasn’t a long ride at 35 miles, but the stop at a favourite Jamaican cafe for curried mutton, rice and peas and a good mooch around the architecture was good for my soul.

A lovely afternoon.

May 26th – One flower I forgot yesterday that really deserves attention is clover. It’s just coming into flower at the moment, as as I proved yesterday, is a very sadly overlooked component of the verges and meadows.

At the moment, I’m mainly seeing purple ones, and their colour is lovely and bright, and the leaves are beautiful too, especially after rain.

We shouldn’t overlook even the humblest of flowers. They’re only trying to grab our attention, after all.

April 12th – On the Walsall Canal where the Anson Brach used to spur off between Bentley Bridge and Bentley Mill Way Aqueduct, the swans who I think nested in the abandoned basin last year are nesting anew. 

Sadly, the nest isn’t well protected this year and I think an enterprising fox or heron – who fish here regularly – may end up with cygnet tea.

That’s if the phantom bread-flinger does’t chock the wee ones – sadly, the message that bread isn’t good for waterfowl doesn’t seem to be reaching all quarters. I know these folk mean well, but it’s not good for them. 

Please, if you feed them, seed or greens instead.